The New Definition of Me
by RainBlossom
Summary: AU Sakura is now a first-year in high school and stumbles into Itachi one day- literally. With many trials, and problems with his sibling, will either of them realize that they were meant for each other? NOW TO BE AUTHORED BY AKATSUKIFANGIRL11
1. The New Kid in Town

The New Definition of Me 

Chapter the First:

New Kid in Town

I looked up. The ever-daunting building and thought of high school loomed over me, taunting me. It would be my freshman year, which in itself is quite the handful, but I had also had a stressful summer in which it was discovered that my father was gay, he divorced my mother (who actually took it quite well), and my mother and I became steeped in debts caused by my fathers old black market deals, not to mention the threats, which is why we moved here to Konohagakure no sato in the first place.

The threats stopped after we moved here, and my mom got a very well-paying job, so all I currently had to worry about was starting a year in high school without knowing a single person. Not exactly my definition of fun, but as they say, _Shikata ga nai_.

As I walked through those time-honored doors, I glanced at my schedule to see where my homeroom would be. Room 104, my homeroom, was on the first floor according to the floor map I had memorized.

When I arrived, I was assigned a seat next to a shy girl who introduced herself as Hyuuga Hinata. Her hair was a midnight variation of navy blue, and she was wearing a cream colored sweatshirt with blue sweatpants. During the few minutes of Homeroom where the teacher, one Yuhi Kurenai, wasn't retelling the district-mandated homeroom procedure, Hinata and I became friends, and we compared schedules. I only had homeroom, Literature, Lunch, and two study halls with her.

After the bell rang to signify that students should proceed to their next class, my new friend showed me to my first class, Foreign Language (English), in room 215 on the second floor, and then went her own way. I had decided that her action was very kind, because none of the teachers were bothered by tardiness on the first day, especially such a kind teacher as my English teacher, Iruka-sensei.

Of course, being a kind man, Umino Iruka was the type of teacher to let students sit wherever their hearts desired. This was an action that I didn't want to react to and had no easy reaction for. If I wanted to make more friends, it would probably be best that I sit near where all of the other girls were- swarming around an unfortunate soul of the male persuasion. However, if I sat near them, it was likely that they wouldn't accept me unless I accepted their human idol, which I doubted I would do: boys of that type weren't exactly anything similar to a preference of mine.

I decided it would be best to sit as far away from the 'popular' students as possible while still trying to be friendly, and ended up seated next to a girl with mouse-brown hair seated atop her head in twin buns. She looked to be a year older than me and had added a Chinese flair to her school uniform that made her seem more unique, and more like my type of friend. I do prefer to keep away from the intellectually delayed and obsessed girls like those crowding around that boy.

This girl, Tenten, I deduced from the conversation she was having with the boy behind me, further intrigued me when she didn't flirt with the quite handsome brunette adolescent who looked to be her age. In fact, they talked as though they were the best of friends, even with all of the rough words.

The boy noticed that I had sat down in front of him and politely gave his name and year. He was Hyuuga Neji, a second year and one year older than me. He had eyes of lavender mist, like Hinata's. Upon my asking about their familial connection, he confirmed that Hinata was his cousin. He introduced his friend, Tenten, and said that she also was a second year. I felt quite lonely, being the only first year in our little corner, but that quickly transitioned to happiness when they invited me to sit with them at lunch also, seeing as they too had the third lunch.

We had no time for further communication, as Iruka-sensei began to speak, telling the class that the seats they had chosen would be their seats for the rest of the year, unless there was a problem that caused a seat change. As Iruka-sensei called the roster, he wrote down where everyone's seat was on a chart for substitutes.

"Uch-" Iruka-sensei began, but stopped as he saw a blur settle into the seat in the back left-hand side of the classroom (left from Iruka-sensei's point of view).

In the corner seat, behind Tenten, sat the boy that all of those girls had been drooling over. I suppose that I could say he was good-looking, but not as good-looking as the girls that surrounded him made him out to be.

"I'll sit here," the boy said.

"Alright then, Sasuke, I do hope that you realize you will have to sit in that same seat for every semester," Iruka-sensei complied, moving on to the rest of his pupils.

When Iruka-sensei was finished with the seating, he let us socialize for the final ten minutes. Tenten and I started to become closer, and Neji and Sasuke glared at each other for the remaining time. If Sasuke didn't like Neji, and his seat change had caused him to sit next to this person he did not like, then what was his reason for switching? Perhaps he liked Tenten? No, he probably moved to get away from his stalkers. Not that I was inferring that the girls who followed his every movement and tried to set up cameras in the boys' lavatory to spy on him were overly-obsessed or anything.

The English class was let out, and I lifted my possessions from my desk, walking out the door whilst talking to Tenten. I must not have been paying attention, because I knocked someone down, and from the look on Tenten's face, it was someone important.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, please forgive me!" I pleaded.

"Hn. Meet me under the tree during lunch. You'll know it when you see it," was all he said before he was gone in a swish of his silky black hair that had been forced into a ponytail.

And my heart thumped faster, whether it was because I was a bit scared as he was much older than me, or because I think a lesser girl would have fainted if that voice and face had been directed at her, only time could tell.


	2. Task Impending

**Thank you to AkatsukiAme, my new beta, and my reviewers: FootstepsOnTheShadowedPath, AkatsukiAme, Oujou no Yabun, Maoh Sakura, and super-rat**

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Second:

Task Impending

It was lunch time. You could say that it was sort of a love/hate conflict in my mind. I was glad to have brought lunch, because I had to find wherever this tree was- I did not find the location to be obvious in the least. Of course then was when I remembered the courtyard.

While mentally berating myself for my stupidity, I walked into the courtyard, immediately spotting the tree. Everyone seemed to avoid said tree, giving it a wide berth, and I faintly wondered why in the back of my mind.

I personally wasn't even too sure why I was following orders that a strange boy I knocked down in the hallway gave me. Nonetheless, I approached the tree to see the same boy sitting calmly in front of the tree. He motioned for me to sit between him and his blond friend, who I recognized as the person that blew up a clay sculpture of his own in an advanced placement chemistry class. The blond had been my lab partner, and I felt quite relieved that he was there. Getting your clothes splattered with clay shrapnel with someone really helps to form a bond.

"Sakura, what are you doing here, un? Unless you were the one that knocked Itachi-san down, un…" Deidara asked, snickering at the thought of short little me causing someone a head taller than me (and probably stronger) to topple over.

"Well," I began, thinking of how to convey my thoughts. "It wasn't on purpose…"

Deidara chuckled at my choice of words. He was probably thinking _That's what they all say, un_.

"Hn," Itachi said, drawing the focus of Deidara and I to himself. "You were called here to earn your forgiveness."

"W-what? It was an accident! I don't think I should have to do something for you if I accidentally knocked you over in the hallway!"

Itachi took off his cloak that had red clouds sporadically patterned on it and started to lift up his shirt. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. Since we are talking about a boy who was better looking than that boy Sasuke, it would be more accurate to say that I was on the verge of fainting. I knew for sure that my face was burning worse than when I had a fever last year, and I subconsciously moved as close to Deidara as possible. With my back to Deidara, I noticed that Itachi was showing me a bruise.

"Was that my fault?" I asked, in awe, as he dropped his shirt down and pulled his cloak back on.

"Hn," Itachi confirmed. "I could sue, you could forever be on Akatsuki's bad list, or you could comply with my wishes."

"He has a really good lawyer, Sakura, and if you were an enemy of Akatsuki, I couldn't be your friend, un," Deidara whispered in my ear.

"Who's Akatsuki?" I asked, confused.

Deidara looked incredulous. "You haven't heard of the group 'Akatsuki,' the most formidable foe there is at this school, un? The group that Itachi-san and I are a part of, un?"

I shook my head, but realized that even if I hadn't heard of them, It wouldn't be the wisest decision to be on their bad side.

"What is it that you want, exactly?" I inquired, because, I would of course want to know what I would have to do.

"How do you feel about Uchiha Sasuke?" Itachi asked. To me it seemed to be quite a strange question, so I answered cautiously.

"That boy who always has at least two girls following him? He's…um…well I suppose he's probably a nice person if you get to know him, but I don't know him all that well, so…" I trailed off, unsure where this would lead. If I was lucky, my slight dislike of Sasuke would render me ineligible for the task that Itachi wanted me to complete.

"Then this task is perfect for you…" Itachi smirked. "Don't worry; we'll call it even if you do this one little thing for me…"

And Itachi proceeded to whisper his request in my ear. When he was done, my eyes widened.

"Are you sure that's what you would like me to do? I'm sure that your homework wouldn't be too complicated for me-"I reasoned, backing further into Deidara.

"Aww, little Sakura would rather have me in Sasuke's place, un! I love you too, my little blossom, un," Deidara exclaimed, hugging me from behind.

"This is your task, take it or you might as well move back to where you were before," Itachi stated.

"How did you know…never mind. I choose… to take it."

My reply finished just before the bell, and Inner Sakura was cursing (who knew that she had such an extensive and vulgar vocabulary). In all of the 'excitement,' I had forgotten to eat lunch. This would be a long day, especially with that task looming over me.

**A/N:**** Anyone have an idea of what the task should be? I have an idea, but I think it's sort of… not-fitting. And don't worry, this may have hints of SasuSaku and DeiSaku, but it will definitely turn out to be ItaSaku at the end! I'll try to update tomorrow, but I can't promise anything (sorry that this chapter is so short… I'll try to make three a lot longer).**


	3. Meeting Sasuke

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Third

Meeting Sasuke

I had to rush to get to my next class on time; I hit a lot of hall traffic because of Itachi. It may not have mattered whether or not I was punctual, but one should always make as good of a first impression as possible.

Naturally, Sasuke, being in my grade, just had to also be in my social studies class. My day greatly increased its level of fun when my assigned seat was found to be directly next to Sasuke. As if the day could become any more joyful. Ah, but it was too soon to say that, because just as I did (not knowing that I had, although only Sasuke heard me), the teacher handed out a sheet of paper to everyone and called me to his desk.

"Haruno Sakura, am I correct?" my sensei queried.

"Hai, Hatake-sensei, am I in trouble?" I asked, worried.

"No, not in the least. I was just wondering if you could perhaps do me a favor. I've heard that you are new and from a different village, I was wondering if you could perhaps tell me about that sometime… outside of school."

I was quite horrified. Wouldn't you be if your sensei basically asked you out? How was I to respond to such a thing? Should I tell someone? Would this be considered sexual harassment? Inner Sakura was cheering, because without the navy mask covering the bottom half of his face, our sensei was very… well, as most adolescents would say, hot.

"Uh-" I began, but then someone behind me stemmed the flow of my speech.

"Is there a problem, Kakashi-sensei? Sakura won't be able to finish her work if you keep her much longer, and I still need a partner for my sheet anyways…" they said, rescuing me from sure unraveling of my composure.

I recognized that voice, but couldn't quite place it. I turned around and faced my knight in shining armor, ready to thank him (for it was surely a male's voice) dearly. It was Sasuke, and he didn't wait for the answer of Hatake-sensei- he just began to drag me back to my seat.

As I sat down, Sasuke muttered something along the lines of "Pervert… does that to all of the non-fangirls… reason why I've never had …"

I subconsciously wondered; _Never had what?_ as I reviewed our assignment. It was a partner activity on getting to know each other. I was simply joyful when I realized that- my task would be significantly less difficult if Sasuke and I became friends.

"So we have to fill out these papers about our partner?" I wondered aloud.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, reminding me infinitely of Itachi. Perhaps they were friends? But at least I had a bit of experience interpreting the word. I knew that I could get used to it in time.

"Alright then, I'll tell you all of answers in order, and you can write them down as we go along."

Sasuke nodded for me to go ahead, a pen poised in his hand. Randomly thinking that it would be smarter for him to use pencil, as it was erasable, I began to answer the questionnaire.

"My favorite color is actually red, and my favorite shade is black. I love to read and sometimes write and draw, and I also love math, but I'm not a nerd. I hate people who drool over boys such as yourself, and for some reason, marmosets, but what I hate most of all are people who insult others just to make themselves feel good, and boys or girl that you could classify as a 'player.'" I said, slow enough for Sasuke to write it all, but not as slow as that he had to tell me to go on.

Sasuke finished writing and began to answer the questions to describe himself.  
"My favorite color is… blue, I guess, and my favorite shade is also black. I don't love many things. I do also hate the types of brainless idiots who hang all over me though."

I didn't really learn that much about him, but Sasuke seemed nice enough, if somewhat distant and unresponsive. He was already on my good side because of rescuing me from Hatake-sensei. I wondered if I should tell Hinata or Tenten about said encounter. I suppose that Tenten would probably just laugh, whereas Hinata would be appalled. It wouldn't do to worry Hinata.

Most of the class was done with their worksheet, and so were we- or so we thought.

"There are **two** sides to the worksheet, class. Whatever you don't finish is homework. Exchange phone numbers, screen names, I don't care, just get it done for tomorrow. Anyone who doesn't bring it in gets a zero for a test grade. Have a nice day," Hatake-sensei cheerily told us.

The bell rang, and I exited alongside Sasuke. We obviously needed to work something out because I didn't want to fail social studies.

"Sasuke, what class do you have next?" I asked.

"Gym," he responded. "Why?"

"We need to figure out how we get the back of the sheet done for tomorrow, or we'll get a zero test grade, weren't you listening?"

"Hn." It was a non-committal 'hn,' meaning that he didn't want to admit that he hadn't been listening.

"Well, I also have gym, so meet me outside of the gymnasium after school lets out and we'll do something about it. I have to go to the girls' locker room now, see you later." I said, walking off in my own direction.

҉

"Sakura," Sasuke called, walking over to where I was standing by the buses. "I called my brother and he said it would be alright if you came over for a bit to finish the social studies paper. Would your parents allow you to come over?"

"It should be fine, I'd just have to call her when I got there and I would need a ride home…" I responded.

"Nii-san will take you."

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to-"

"It would be fine with him. He's always looking for excuses to drive his car around."

"Well, okay then."

**A/N:**** I'm sorry that the chapter ends stupidly, but I'm getting kicked off of the computer by a sibling really soon, and I wanted to update (aren't you just touched by my dedication?). Thank you again to reviewers:**

**AkatsukiAme, FootstepsOnTheShadowedPath, Oujou no Yabun, super-rat, ArjunaAnja, and Sakura4eva**


	4. Sasuke's Niisan

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Fourth

Sasuke's Nii-san

It didn't surprise me when I learned that Sasuke didn't take the bus. However, it _did_ surprise me when Sasuke led me through the field in the back of the school and up the hill of forestry there. My only guess was that he walked to school, and he had never struck me as that type of guy.

The walk was absolutely silent but for the crunching of our footsteps and the noises of nature. We reached his house within 10 minutes, but probably would have gotten there sooner if Sasuke and I didn't have to go on the lengthy trail to avoid those who obsess over him- some of them attempted to stalk him.

When we reached his house, he didn't need to tell me that it was where he resided for sleep and on weekends. Have you ever heard the saying, "A man is like his house" used before? Well that statement came to mind as I gazed upon the house before me. The house, for some reason, seemed to scream 'Uchiha Sasuke' at me, although I'm not quite sure that 'house' is the correct word for it.

Sasuke's house looked like one of those pictures you would find in a historical magazine of mansions that had won awards for being so old and still standing in perfect condition. As I entered Sasuke's house, it was thrust upon me that the grandeur of the house was not diminished by sparse furnishings and such. The 'house' was one of immense fortune, the type that only few could possibly afford.

Sasuke escorted me to the family room, where I put my school supplies down. Hatake-sensei was the only one to give us homework, fortunately, but what pointless homework it was. We didn't even have homework in my Honors math class. What ridiculousness.

I took out my cell phone; an important device that I had been convinced would come in handy.

Following my conversation with my mother, I informed Sasuke that my mother said I could stay for as long as I needed to. What I didn't tell him was my suspicions of my mother thinking something other than schoolwork would happen. She's wanted me to get a boyfriend for years, but all the boys I've met so far aren't people I would even consider desiring in that fashion. She also supports my studies, so she could have wanted me to get a good grade, but I'm a slight bit paranoid, which would gear me more towards the first reason why she let me stay for 'as long as I needed to.'

The back of the sheet took the two of us about ten minutes to complete. We no longer needed to do anything, so I asked him if it would be alright for me to go home then. He nodded, got up, and motioned in such a way to indicate that I should do so as well.

We walked up a magnificent marble spiral staircase into a hallway full of doors: the type that psychologists often talk about. Sasuke paused in front of the door, knocked, and then burst right in.

"Foolish otouto (little brother), I could have been changing, how many times must I tell you not to barge in on me?" the person inside said, rising from the floor. "Your little girlfriend wouldn't want to see that, now would she?"

And I looked up from the floor where Sasuke's brother had been only seconds before, to stare straight into the face of the man who would most likely cause Sasuke to hate me: Uchiha Itachi.

**A/N:**** I hope to update again today, but I want a review before I post again! Thank you to reviewers:**

**AkatsukiAme, Oujou no Yabun, FootstepsOnTheShadowedPath, super-rat, SasukeSakuraxXXxItachiSakura, Sakura4eva, Crazedchocolatefan, and xXFallenSakuraXx **


	5. The Task

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Fifth:

The Task

I stared in shock at Itachi. He was Sasuke's brother… and legal guardian? And yet he had asked me to do such a thing to Sasuke? Itachi must love annoying Sasuke, then. Because that is surely what would result from my following Itachi's instructions: great annoyance. I wouldn't want to get in the middle of their brotherly disputes, but I also wouldn't want to end up with five years in prison for accidentally knocking someone down in the hall.

Itachi interrupted this flow of words through my brain by winking at me, which was the signal for me to do the task. He had wanted it completed in front of himself, and prior to this meeting, I thought it was because he had some sort of sadistic nature. Now I knew it was because Sasuke would know who to credit it to.

"So, Sasuke, did you come up here to ask to go to your little friend Naruto's house again? I know you two love to spend the night together, but don't you think that you need a bit of time to recover from the weekend?" Itachi asked, which was the context in which I had to do my task. So I mustered up all of my acting skills and gasped.

"Sasuke, you're gay? I would have never thought… you of all people! What is the world coming too?" I acted out, quite believably.

Naturally, Sasuke looked pretty ticked off. Wouldn't you if your brother and somewhat-friend-but-more-like-new-acquaintance said that you preferred those of your own gender for affection purposes? So I completed my task.

I hugged him. Loosely, I might add, but it was still a hug. I had never hugged a boy outside of my family before, and my heart thumped quite loudly at hugging one for the first time. Although my heartbeat returned to normal at the look Sasuke had on his face. He probably thought me senile for hugging him after asking if he was gay.

"It's okay that you're gay, Sasuke, now we can hang out a lot more and talk about all the cute boys!" I couldn't believe that sentence could actually drip out of my mouth, I would never say something like that if I didn't have to.

Poor Sasuke looked confused, angry, and was twitching. When he looked at Itachi and saw a smirk staring back at him, mocking him, the confusion disappeared and everything made sense to him in an instantaneous revelation.

"Itachi-nii-san… _you_ put her up to this… I heard that someone knocked you down in the hall and I was rejoicing, but you made her do **this!**" Sasuke said, his voice crescendo-ing with each word, growing from a whisper to a shout.

I had released Sasuke as soon as he realized that I was not acting of my own vocation, but because of a threat. Now he lunged at Itachi, who sidestepped him. Sasuke ended up fuming on the floor, and was about to go after Itachi again when I stepped between them. Who knew that Sasuke could be so easily angered by his brother? I'm fully certain that if anyone else had gotten me to do that to Sasuke, even _Neji_, he wouldn't have reacted at all, just sat there stoically.

"Sasuke, don't try to hurt your brother! It was a little joke, not an attempt to hurt you!" I chastised.

Sasuke turned his glare on me, and his eyes seemed to gleam red for a second, but whatever it was, it fled from his eyes and his glare softened as he grumbled something about his 'insufferably annoying nii-san.'

I was kind of flustered at having spoken so harshly to someone- I didn't like to speak in such ways. So I blushed, looking at the floor, wondering if this is how Hinata felt every time she spoke.

"Itachi," Sasuke began, trying to remain calm. "We came up here to ask you to give Sakura a ride home, her mother can't pick her up; she's still at work I believe."

I nodded, confirming Sasuke's words.

Itachi turned to me and said, "Alright, I can give you a ride home, I know all of the roads in this area well. Sasuke, would you like to come?"

"Could you drop me off at Naruto's on the way?" he responded to Itachi's and my great surprise.

Itachi and I exchanged a look, wondering if indeed Sasuke wasn't straight. I figured him asexual, not… homosexual. Shaking the disturbing thoughts from my head, I followed Itachi out to the car, swiping my things along the way.

It was an elegant silver Volvo with a shine that anyone would be proud of. I somehow scored the shotgun seat, mainly because Sasuke took the back.

Itachi didn't answer Sasuke's question, in fact, they didn't say a word to each other from when they entered the car to when Sasuke walked up Naruto's driveway. Sasuke had bid me farewell, but that was all.

Inwardly, I wondered if Naruto was that blond-haired kid who was in a few of my classes. As I wondered this, a new thought entered my mind, and the air seemed to heat all around me, fogging my thoughts. The thought that caused this was that I was sitting in car with Uchiha Itachi, the most handsome man I knew, and he was staring at me.

**A/N:**** Hah, I updated again today, I'm so proud of myself! This is for not updating yesterday, I'm sorry, I was busy. Thank you to my reviewers: AkatsukiAme, Oujou no Yabun, FootstepsOnTheShadowedPath, SasukeSakuraxXXxItachiSakura, Spaz-chan, and Sakura Yurei**


	6. The Drive

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Sixth:

The Drive

I had never gotten much experience with those of the male persuasion. In preschool, I had few male companions, actually few friends at all because of my large forehead, and as I grew older, the number of friends that were boys rapidly decreased to the current number of zero (unless Sasuke, Itachi, or Neji considered me a friend, which I doubted). So one could confirm the reason why I was flushing pink in Itachi's penetrating gaze.

"Are you going to tell me where you live or just keep blushing?" Itachi asked me, smirking at my blush. The fact that he was smirking at none other than me irked me slightly, but I fought the blush and told him how to get where I lived from the school. So Itachi pulled out of Naruto's driveway and onto the road, presumably driving in the direction of my home.

The ride was silent but for the gentle hum of the perfectly conditioned engine for five minutes. Then Itachi, to my surprise, broke the peaceful, yet awkward, atmosphere.

"Would you hate me if I said I really need to get something to eat?" he asked, as though my response actually mattered to him.

"No, of course not, it's your car, and you were nice enough to drive me home, I don't mind in the least!" I insisted.

And with that said, Itachi pulled into the parking lot of a popular ramen shop, Ichiraku.

"I hate eating fast food," was his explanation for entering the restaurant.

It was basically a ramen bar, so we sat next to each other, waiting for the server. Itachi asked if I would like any ramen, and I would have politely declined but for the fact that I was starving. So I asked if he could order me a small pork ramen, and he did so.

As we ate our ramen in silence, I began to realize that he really was a very quiet type of person that kept mostly to himself and close friends. He always seemed to be making an effort to say many words in sequence. I liked the quiet type. As soon as that crossed my head, I remembered that saying about having to watch out for the quiet ones.

All of a sudden, I noticed Itachi was staring at me again, but in a weird way. Then he spoke in an even weirder way.

"Sakura-chan, are you enjoying the ramen I bought for you? I hope you like it, because I do, and that way we could come here together more."

That was just about the creepiest thing anyone had ever said to me. Itachi didn't call anyone with the honorific '-chan' and he also didn't talk to me like we were on a date.

"Well, I do like the ramen…" I answered, figuring that there must have been a good reason for Itachi acting peculiar. I was correct. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a group of kids wearing black cloaks spying on us. I knew that they were the Akatsuki and that Deidara and Itachi were a part of that group, but other than that, I was completely in the dark about them. I hadn't the faintest trace of a clue as to why they were spying on Itachi, and perhaps half of that trace of a clue as to why Itachi was flirting (at least, I believe that flirting was his intention) with me because of them.

"Sakura-chan, are you done with your ramen?" Itachi asked quite kindly (Quite kindly for him is without malice or something of the sort, not with compassion).

"Yes," I replied, not really paying attention because I was still absorbed in my thoughts. It was a good thing that I happened to be finished with my ramen, or I would have been upset with Itachi. Right now, we were even, but if he had given the people behind the counter my ramen before I was finished, that would have been two meals that he caused me to miss or not finish in the same day.

Itachi left the correct amount of money for the ramen and a sufficient tip, although he wouldn't let me help pay for any of it. He said it would be 'ungentlemanly' to let me pay. It was 'ungentlemanly' for him to threaten me into calling Sasuke gay and hugging Sasuke. It was 'ungentlemanly' for Itachi to annoy his otouto just for the fun of it. And yet he calls ungentlemanly the most insignificant of things. I just hope no one from school (specifically: fangirls) heard him say that to me or even saw the two of us in there together, or I was sure there would be rumors about us making out heatedly outside the ramen shop or something. I may not have had boy experience, but I sure had experience with fangirls.

Itachi and I climbed into his Volvo and got our seatbelts on as he started the engine (although such an action is not recommended by RainBlossom, for safety and health purposes, please put your seatbelt on _before_ even thinking of touching the ignition/keys). He pulled back out onto the black asphalt road, not saying a word.

A minute later, after turning right, he finally stopped my mulling over thoughts by telling me why he did what he did.

"Sorry that you had to be a part of that, Sakura-san. My group, the Akatsuki, has a leader. If our leader tells us to do something, we must follow through with it or face severe consequence, and even if we are asked to do something menial like throwing away a straw wrapper. Leader-sama has a rule about us 4th-years. Those of us in our last year at the high school need to get, or a least look for, a girlfriend so that future Akatsuki have a name to live up to. If I didn't act like we were on a date right now, I would have gotten in much trouble. I apologize for using you like that, it was wrong of me…"

Does someone have a video camera? That must be the longest string of words Uchiha Itachi has ever managed to put together in an incessant sequence. He deserved a reward, so I gave him one.

"Itachi-san, if your, uh… group is ever watching you like that while your with me, you can feel free to um… do that again. I don't really want you to get hurt…" That last bit was quite embarrassing to say, and I don't know if I said that because he wouldn't be as pleasing to the eyes if he got hurt, or because we were actually becoming friends. At the time, neither hypothesis could be proved or rejected, so perhaps it was a mixture of both…

**A/N:**** I'm sorry for not updating over the weekend (in my time it is right now 2:07A.M., and therefore no longer the weekend, it is Monday now…), I'll try to update (much) later today! Oh, most of this chapter wasn't read by my beta, 'cause it's so late and I felt bad for not posting… And on that note, I won't be able to update from 2/15 -2/22, I'm sorry! I'll try to do a lot before then. You all should listen to "Home" by Three Days Grace **(http://zant3tsu. **that's what I was listening to while writing this!**


	7. Deidara

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters therein

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Seventh

Deidara

It was a bit embarrassing when my mother asked me if Itachi was my boyfriend right in front of him after arriving at my humble abode, but other than that, the ride home was fine, and Itachi wasn't mad at my mother. In fact, he had smirked and said, "Although I doubt you may want me to be, I'm quite sure that Sakura-san wouldn't agree to such a thing," directly before driving off. When my mother asked why he thought that, I shrugged, not really knowing why myself.

So, having finished my homework already and satiated myself, I went up to my room to unpack some more. I quite missed my old room with its fresh pine scent and flower décor, but now I had a new room, void of all of those childish accessories that had adorned my old room. (That's supposed to be symbolism, for all of you who don't have this kind of knowledge adorning your brains quite yet).

It was the morning again, and my mother dropped me off at school to make up for the fact that she had gone out with new friends from work and left me to make my own dinner. I used to make my own dinner often anyways, at least, when I bothered to eat dinner.

The day flew by with all of my new friends. That is, until Chemistry class.

Deidara, being my lab partner, came over to our lab table to pour some sodium chloride into a beaker to start our experiment.

We finished the experiment swiftly and surely, so we had time to relax and talk, which is always a pleasant experience during school.

"So, Sakura, I heard about Kakashi-sensei suggesting some after-class time with just the two of you, un," Deidara started, obviously holding back laughter.

"…Don't make fun of me, how did you find out about that anyway?" I responded.

"Word travels around here, un… I heard that Itachi got pretty annoyed when he heard, un,"

Deidara just laughed after saying that, as if there were some kind of extrapolation of a joke from that instance or something of the like. I was confused as to what exactly was so funny, but then I remembered that Itachi's uh… 'Group,' the Akatsuki, thought that we had been on a date yesterday.

"Deidara, you saw Itachi and I at Ichiraku yesterday didn't you?" I paused for a second and he nodded. "Well, could you umm… not tell anyone about that? It's kind of bad if his self-proclaimed fan club members knew that… I haven't really learned how to sleep with my eyes open just yet…"

Deidara laughed again and this time I was sure that he was laughing _at_ me, not _with_ me.

"Hey, it's not funny if I get hurt! I thought that you," I started sniffling and pretending to cry, and tried my best to make little chibi eyes to trick Deidara, "cared about me… I guess you don't… It's alright, I'll survive—"

But Deidara pulled me into a hug saying, "No, don't cry, un! We're still friends, I do care, un! I even made you a lunch today, so that you could eat with Itachi and I, un!"

With students cleaning up all around us, hurrying to be ready before the bell to be dismissed, it was a surprise that he would make such a bold move, especially since he thought that I was going out with Itachi.

Deidara didn't let go until after the bell rang (about a minute after he began to hug me), and seemed to not want to let go of me for some strange reason.

_Has Deidara come to like me after only two days of knowing me? And what's this about him bringing me a lunch; did he think that I needed one?_ I thought to myself, but then dismissed these thoughts, because surely it was only my imagination.

**A/N:**** Sorry for not updating in so long! I lost inspiration, I seriously have no idea where this story is going (yeah, I know, I'm sure that you love to hear that)… But AkatsukiAme is the reason I updated, no one else cared much… Sorry again! Gomen! If there's a great idea that you have, tell me, and I'll find a way to put it in and thank you in that chapter, which reminds me:**

**Thank you all reviewers!**


	8. Brotherly Love

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters therein

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Eighth

Brotherly Love

**A/N:**** This chapter is dedicated to ****SasukeSakuraxXXxItachiSakura for giving me the nicest review I've ever seen!**

Well, it was lunch time again, and Deidara had me cornered in the hall as soon as the bell dismissed us from class.

"Sakura-chan, I know I was acting weird during Chemistry, but you know that boy with the silver hair that always gets in trouble for swearing, un? Well, he's in the Akatsuki, and in the Akatsuki, we have to try to—"

"I know," I said, cutting Deidara off, "Itachi told me about that rather, um… _interesting_ leave-a-legacy-for-future-Akatsuki-members thing and he was pretending to be on a date with me at Ichiraku because of that."

"I was wondering why you were out with Itachi, un," Deidara stated. "Anyways, I really did bring you a lunch, un! I know that you didn't eat anything the last time that we sat together at lunch, so I went to the trouble of making you something, un!"

And with that said, I was no longer cornered and Deidara and I were happily walking to that tree in the courtyard. We sat down next to each other and began to chat about meaningless school things as if we were the oldest and best of friends rather than recent acquaintances. I thanked Deidara for the quite delicious lunch he had brought me and gratefully partook of it.

Deidara and I were so into our meaningless communication that we didn't even notice that Sasuke had sat down next to me. That is, we didn't notice until Deidara stopped in the middle of a sentence, openmouthed and staring at Itachi.

Deidara tugged on my arm and warned me to back up, because there was a fight in store for the Uchiha brothers. Itachi wasn't really very high-strung, but if there was one thing that irked him to no end, it was when someone took his seat at lunch, especially if that someone was Sasuke.

You see, at lunch, there are many tables adorning the indoors lunchroom, but those are usually full of the pretty-but-not-pretty-bright crowds, so that makes seats outside ideal. If one chooses to dine in the outside courtyard, there are two choices of seats: somewhere on the grass or at one of the picnic tables. These picnic tables would sound like a better eating location, but really they're prime targets for the multiple pranks of various students, which is why Itachi prefers the less chaotic grass. As for why Itachi likes that one tree, from what little information I have gathered in my short two days at this school, it seem as though Itachi picked this tree just because everyone used to hate it, just like they used to hate him; it was a psychological thing.

So, now that it is known to us that Itachi is supposedly inwardly attached to this tree, we can somewhat understand why he didn't want any strange people that he didn't like in his spot, or brothers that he cannot be found to be on good terms with.

The fight started with three words, and they were from Itachi.

"Foolish little brother."

And with that said, Sasuke gained a nosebleed from a punch to the face. He landed next to me, and his nosebleed seemed to swell into a torrent of blood. It was as I craned my neck, looking for a teacher to take Sasuke to the nurse, that I realized why Sasuke's nosebleed had gotten worse. Sasuke had a very nice view of under my skirt.

"Pervert," I muttered, stepping away so that Sasuke could no longer look up and see my underwear. I knew I should have worn shorts beneath the purple and grey school uniform.

Soon, however, Sasuke's nose was the least of my worries as a teacher separated himself from the students (namely, fangirls) that had gathered around the injured Sasuke and annoyed Itachi.

"Everybody go to your next class, there's nothing to see here…" Kakashi-sensei commanded lazily.

Itachi, Sasuke, and I started to pick up our things, but Kakashi-sensei said, "Not you three."

I handed Sasuke a tissue, being compassionate despite his evident perverted-ness, and Kakashi-sensei gave Itachi the "I'm-disappointed-in-you-young-man" speech, with an added, "in front of little Sakura, too!"

Itachi's eye's rolled at that statement, and you could tell that this conversation was one that he found to be very unamusing.

Kakashi-sensei rambled on, finally coming to his point. "Itachi, I don't think that you can be trusted to watch Sasuke by yourself, maybe you're the reason why he's so antisocial! One of the teachers is going to have to baby-sit you two and—"

"Why can't another student just watch us? Someone trustworthy… like… Sakura?" Sasuke inquired, sounding a bit strange with his nose still bleeding profusely.

"Absolutely not that would be completely- Wait, did you say Sakura? That sounds like a fantastic idea! Sakura, instead of Social studies homework, your assignment is to watch over these two boys from after school at 1:00 in the afternoon until 8:00 at night. Don't worry, Shay and I will have a conversation about it and you will report to me about their behavior at the end of every week!"

I thought that I was having some sort of really abnormal dream up until Kakashi-sensei referred to my mother as 'Shay.' My mother never let anyone call her 'Shay' unless she was close to them, so I was disturbed. If Kakashi-sensei was close to my mother, then he could easily get my mother to agree to my having to watch two adolescents after school each day. My mother always was somewhat of a pushover.

"You know my mother?" I asked, just to be sure that he was allowed to call her Shay.

"Yes, quite well. Since you and I couldn't have coffee together and talk about where you used to live, your mother and I did."

Let me tell you, there is nothing creepier than a teacher who is obviously head-over-heels for your mother. And I received the infinite pleasure of having to meet with one such teacher more often than expected, all because Itachi and Sasuke couldn't get along. Who knows, maybe if I had never bumped into Itachi, this wouldn't have happened. But I _did_ bump into Itachi, so it is as fate has it. Don't you just love fate?

**A/N:**** Sorry to have another late update, but I have a lot going on. In fact, I just finished an essay on the Cold War that is due tomorrow. Thank you to my lovely reviewers, although you seem to have dropped in number (Probably because my writing's getting worse and I haven't updated in a while…).s **


	9. Boys' Day At Home

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters therein

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Ninth

Boys' Day at Home

**A/N:**** This chapter is dedicated to Kakurine IL for her awesome review!**

School always seems to blur by after a life-altering event. Of course, this makes it no surprise that I didn't realize school was over until Deidara whacked me upside the head on the way to his car. Well, I realized again when Itachi and Sasuke dragged me to Itachi's car, but that shouldn't really count, because it was the second time I realized it.

I ended up with the front seat again. I guess that Sasuke just doesn't like being near Itachi if at all possible. The one-minute ride to the Uchiha estate was silent. There isn't much conversation possible in a one-minute expanse of time, but the silence was still incredibly awkward, and I sighed happily when I exited the car, finally free of the gripping hold of the stifling air.

The walk with all of our books was also silent, and I observed that Sasuke had a large, purple bruise on his nose from Itachi. I was wholly (whole-ly) sure that if it was not Itachi they were up against, Sasuke's worshippers would have Itachi bound, gagged, and forced to listen to Naruto's attempts at opera. And if you knew Naruto, there would be no doubt in your mind that that was torture.

We walked into the 'house' and Itachi went straight to his room. I offered to help Sasuke with his homework because I still pitied him with his mutilated nose. Sasuke wouldn't show it, but he was grateful for my help— he knows that he couldn't have answered those math questions without me.

After a particularly difficult equation involving logarithms and parabolas both, Sasuke asked me to come with him to get his Chemistry book back from Itachi, who had borrowed for whatever reason. It is not like I had a choice of whether to accompany Sasuke or not, but it was nice to be asked, so after my reply of consent, we started up the spiral staircase to Itachi's room again.

When we reached the door, Sasuke again neglected to knock, and just barged right into Itachi's room. Itachi was right to say that Sasuke should learn to knock, because as I entered the room, I was faced with… well, not a face.

Luckily for me, Itachi still had his boxers on, but he wasn't wearing much else. Actually, the only other thing he was wearing was his black necklace with the shining metal circles attached to it.

I blushed heavily and punched Sasuke across the room.

"You idiot! He warned you last time, didn't he! This is why you heed warnings instead of ignoring them! If I had a choice, I'd quit this assignment and shove it up your—" I yelled.

"S-Sakura?" Sasuke asked, concerned.

"What, am I not allowed to express my anger?" I snapped.

"…No, you are, it's just… you're scaring me."

"Well maybe that will help you learn your lesson," I said, helping Sasuke up.

"I think that huge bump on Sasuke's head will do that. You're quite strong." Itachi observed.

I didn't respond to that. What I did do was point something out. I glanced over at Itachi and yelled, "Get some clothes on, it's indecent to be undressed in front of a lady friend!"

**A/N:**** Well, that's a wrap. You'll have to wait for me to do the next chapter before you find out what happens next! And hah, this update is early. **_**Extremely**_** early. So there.**


	10. Lady Friend

This is my first story

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Tenth

Lady Friend

**A/N:**** This chapter is also dedicated to SasukeSakuraxXXxItachiSakura for her 'love'ly reviews.**

Alright, so "lady friends" was a weird thing to say. That doesn't give Itachi the right to stare at me, correct? Because that's exactly what he was doing. For some reason, Itachi had frozen mid-stride to look at me with a strange expression adorning his face.

"…Why are you staring at me?" I asked, quite perplexed. "And I told you, put some clothes on!"

Itachi snapped out of whatever daze he was in to honor my request. I tried to avert my eyes, but I couldn't help sneaking a glance as Itachi pulled black fish net over his perfectly toned muscles, and then, disappointingly, a plain black t-shirt over that. I had almost sighed sadly as Itachi pulled the last of his clothes, a pair of navy blue sweatpants, on. I felt as though he was a bit too handsome for his own good and was wondering why he didn't have many fangirls…Then I remembered that Itachi had the Akatsuki to take care of fangirls.

I didn't realize that I had closed my eyes and sat on the floor until I heard a resounding _thump_, and my eyes fluttered open and looked up to see that Itachi had knocked Sasuke out with the book that he had taken.

"Itachi!" I exclaimed. I hadn't thought that Itachi was ever so blatantly violent, so I was largely surprised.

"I actually didn't mean to hit him in the head, if you'll believe me. He moved when I threw the book, and the idiot didn't think to move or catch his book."

I had no response to that except to take Sasuke's book and Sasuke and drag them out of Itachi's room. I was heading for Sasuke's room when I realized that I had some unfinished business.

I strode back into Itachi's room, where Itachi was lying down on his bed.

"Itachi, where is Sasuke's room?" I inquired, seemingly innocently.

"Go down the hall and look to your left. If you see a pink door, that's his." Itachi answered uncaringly.

"Ah, thank you," I said. "Oh, and Itachi?" I asked, leaning over him on his bed and moving my hand to caress his cheek.

"Yes, Sakura?" Itachi choked out. I didn't know that I had that kind of an effect on him.

"I figured out why you were staring at me," I continued casually.

"…" was Itachi's response, or rather, lack thereof.

"And I certainly don't appreciate you looking up my skirt when I don't know that it's up!" I finished, slapping Itachi's cheek.

Itachi looked stunned, but then quickly quipped, "Does that mean I have permission to look up it if you _know_ that it's up?"

I just ignored him and walked somewhat heavily out of the room. I stopped in the hallway and picked Sasuke up, along with his textbook. And, sure enough, there was a room with a pink door, and it could easily be found to be Sasuke's room.

I tried my best not to laugh when I walked into his room and saw that the walls were purple, I mean, that has to be embarrassing for someone naturally of the male gender, right? But other than the door and walls, Sasuke's room was pretty normal, if you consider everything else being black or a shade of grey to be normal, that is.

I set Sasuke down on his black comforter and sighed in relief. Despite what many would think, Sasuke was quite heavy for his small build.

The next thing I knew, Sasuke was on top of me, and I couldn't move. So much for personal space.


	11. Attack

This is my first story

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Eleventh

Attack

**A/N:**** This chapter is dedicated to Sakura Yurei for her supportive reviews.**

I couldn't help it. I screamed. I also happened to instinctively hit Sasuke with whatever possible, which happened to be my head. Unfortunately for Sasuke, my head could only possibly hit his, so I ended up hitting his bruised nose. If Sasuke hadn't already been awake, he certainly was after _that_. It couldn't really be described as my fault that he was in immense pain— I wouldn't have whacked him if he hadn't… tackled me.

Sasuke started to utter some very vibrantly colorful language that is not fit to repeat, although I can tell you that he said something about pudding.

Sasuke was still cussing when Itachi came drowsily into the room, looking like he wanted to be asleep. Itachi's eyes gained a sadistic tint when he saw Sasuke on top of me on the floor. Have I mentioned before that I hadn't wanted this assignment? I was personally opposed to violence, so I wasn't thrilled about watching Itachi pick Sasuke up and toss him as if heavy Sasuke weighed less than a spec of dust. I guess that Itachi hadn't thrown Sasuke too hard, because Sasuke was still conscious and was shielding his face with his arms.

Itachi seemed to take Sasuke's protective position as a challenge, seeing as he raised his arm as if to hit Sasuke. But that's when the fighting stopped.

Unsure of what had happened, I looked down at my arms and saw that they were wrapped around something warm and black. Then I registered that my arms were wrapped around Itachi's waist. _Wow, this is not at all awkward_, I thought sarcastically. Contrastingly, it had worked. For whatever reason, the action of putting my arms around Itachi's waist saved Sasuke from further hurt. But maybe the real reason was that my chest was brushing against Itachi's back. He had proven himself a pervert before, so it was a reasonable deduction.

When Itachi leaned back into me, I had a strong feeling that he really _was_ a pervert, and quickly and self-consciously released him.

"Pervert," I muttered to myself, knowing that Itachi heard me. Itachi strode out of the room without another sound, and Sasuke looked up at me admiringly.

"No one's been able to stop him when he's on a rampage like that," Sasuke said quietly, his awe evident in his voice.

I didn't answer him. It wasn't to be mean, it's more in the tune of, how do you answer something like that? So I silently offered my hand to Sasuke, who gladly took it, and pulled himself up.

"Oh, I guess I should warn you, the rest of the Akatsuki is coming over tonight at 5:00, so things will get quite crazy. They tend to bring alcohol or spiked drinks, so if they offer you something, don't take it unless I okay it."

"What exactly are they going to do here, anyways?" I asked, actually curious.

"Well, as I said, there's alcohol, so there's a lot of drinking and embarrassing moments, but they just come here to hang out. They always come here because there are no people around for miles other than the school, and also because our parents can't exactly come home," Sasuke explained.

"I'm sorry," I said. I had heard a few people talk briefly of how Itachi and Sasuke were the only Uchiha (Uchiha is plural in itself) left. I couldn't even begin to imagine the turmoil through which Sasuke and Itachi existed.

"Sorry for what? Our parents being dead? Don't be. There's nothing that you can do about it and neither Itachi nor I wants pity."

There was a slightly awkward silence between Sasuke and I up until the time when the doorbell rang. I glanced at the black kitty clock on Sasuke's wall and wondered who exactly was at the door, seeing as it was only 2:00 in the afternoon. Who called upon this house at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Friday?

Sasuke and I raced down the stairs to the door with Itachi nowhere in sight.

Sasuke peered through the peephole and smirked, opening the door.

"Hello there, Naruto."

**A/N:**** I updated, aren't you all happy? I am! I can't wait to see your wonderful reviews!** **See you next chapter (hopefully tomorrow…)!**


	12. The Akatsuki are Coming!

This is my first story

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Twelfth

The Akatsuki Are Coming!

**A/N:**** This chapter is dedicated to** **kibaku0nendo for giving me a good laugh in her review.**

It was 6:00. The Akatsuki were here. They didn't seem all that bad, even though I'm still not sure exactly what their group does to be seen as so formidable by the whole school. As Sasuke had predicted, they brought alcohol, although it was diluted a bit in punch so as to not be overly obvious.

But, apparently, dilution didn't help, because one of them seemed drunk when they arrived, and it was the boy with the blue hair.

Speaking of him, he was walking towards me.

"Helllllo theeeere," he said, his speech slurred heavily, as if he drank sake like water. "Myyy name ish Kiishame, what ish yoooursh?"

I knew to just ignore him and walk away, so I walked towards the boy who swore a lot, who had introduced himself to be Hidan. He opened his arms wide for a hug, which I gladly returned. Hidan and I had become fast friends and now always greeted each other with a hug. It was purely friendship, except that I enjoyed feeling his chiseled chest. For some reason that made me feel guilty, and think about Itachi. Maybe I felt as though I was betraying Itachi for thinking that Hidan had better pectoral muscles? But wait, how would that be betraying Itachi? I mean it's not like I had feelings for him or anything.

I shook my head to clear it of puzzling thoughts and wandered away from Hidan, having gone to see him only because Kisame was sure to steer clear of him. Besides, I could always find time to talk to Hidan in Chemistry… when he hadn't gotten in trouble for swearing recently, anyways.

"Hello, Sakura!" a voice behind me said excitedly. I spun around quickly, for the voice sounded as if it had belonged to a child, and a child certainly would not be permitted at a party such as this.

The boy was wearing a mask with a black and orange swirl, so I was thinking that he shouldn't be here, but then I saw his coat. I knew that by strict rules, no one but Akatsuki members were allowed to wear their cloaks, and they each only had one, so someone would have to take it off of them to steal it during the day. Although, the boy could easily have taken it from Pein-san or Konan-san upstairs, because they certainly weren't wearing their cloaks… or anything else for that matter. I had found _that_ out the hard way, and yet the two hadn't even noticed that the door was open, not that that would have been easy for them to notice while they were… occupied, but it was a rather disturbing experience. Deidara had seen my face after I closed the door and started to laugh at me immensely, which I didn't much appreciate, because how was I supposed to know?

"Deidara-senpai wants to see Sakura! Come with Tobi!" the boy said.

"Huh?" I asked, not having been paying attention because I was thinking. "Oh, never mind, I know what you said. So your name is Tobi?"

"Yup, Tobi is Tobi, and Tobi is a good boy, so Tobi will take you to Deidara-senpai now!"

And with that said, Tobi started to skip off in what I would presume was Deidara's direction, but one can never be sure what exactly a stranger is doing after all.

It turns out that Tobi was leading me in the correct direction, because after guiding me through the small group of Akatsuki members, Akatsuki-want-to-be's and three shady 'girlfriends,' Deidara accosted me and handed me the phone.

He mouthed 'It's for you, un' as I picked up the receiver and twiddled the cord.

"Hello?" questioned the person at the other end of the line.

"Yes, this is Haruno Sakura speaking, how may I help you?"

"Well, you could drop in a few good words about me to your mother, or you could convince her to go swimming with me and let _me_ bring the bathing suit, oh, or—"

"I'm hoping that this isn't the reason you called me Hatake-sensei, because if it is, I'm definitely not going to put a good word in for you," I interjected, stopping Kakashi before he could say something _really_ perverted.

"Oh, that's right, I called to tell you, I won't be able to meet you to talk about how the boys were on their first day, seeing as I'll be on a date with your mother, so I might swing by your house on Saturday to talk, okay? Oh, and your mother doesn't want you home by yourself, so you have to stay with the Uchiha boys until your mother and I come to pick you up. We should be there around midnight, so don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"What wouldn't you do?" I asked skeptically, because if I knew my teacher, which I thought that I did, there wasn't much that he wouldn't do.

"Why, I wouldn't _not_ get drunk at that party you're at, of course. Don't worry, I could tell your mother that it was Chemistry homework of some sort, like the effects of different substances on a hangover…"

I could mentally picture the perverted smile that would be crinkling Hatake-sensei's mask.

"Alright then, I'll see you around midnight," I dismissively said, hanging up before my social studies teacher could further annoy me or say strange, un-teacherly things pertaining to my mother again.

And then I turned to Deidara, who had been standing next to me, listening to the conversation the whole time, and asked, "You told him that you had alcohol at a party that included multitudes of minors?"

"Are you kidding me, un? Who do you think provides the alcohol, un?"

I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs to Sasuke's room, and knocked on the door. Hearing no response, I opened the door, but how wrong I was to do so.

**A/N:**** Ha-ha, a cliff-hanger! I've always wanted to leave a really suspenseful one, but then I feel guilty, like I do now, so I'll be nice…**

What I saw was grounds for repeating some of the task that Itachi had assigned me, and the repeatable part was not hugging Sasuke, rather, it was the calling him gay part. Because when I walked through that doorway unknowingly, I stumbled upon Sasuke and Naruto in a lip-lock, and I nearly fainted.

**A/N:**** I'm sorry, but it's really not that much of a cliffhanger, and it was longer! I'll update as soon as I can (probably tomorrow), but for now, I have a concert to play in, so I'll talk to you all tomorrow (hopefully, if you don't stop reading my fic. because it sucks or I don't update)!**

**And by the way, the title is a joke, it's supposed to be said like the colonists saying, "The British are coming, the British are coming!"**


	13. Questionable

Chapter 1: Just Your Normal Kids

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Thirteenth

Questionable

**A/N:**** This chapter is dedicated to Nissan Hoshi, one of my good friends that finally reviewed!**

"Wh-what exactly were you two doing?" I asked, feeling as though I would never have the ability to look at Sasuke the same way again.

The two were spitting like mad and seemed disgusted at each other. It seemed odd that they would do that though.

When Sasuke had cleaned his mouth out sufficiently, he addressed me.

"That was not voluntary; some kid knocked us into each other, and then ran for his life when he realized what he did."

"I didn't see anyone leaving this room before I came in," I said, fully believing that Sasuke and Naruto were just embarrassed about being caught.

"I was so shocked that I couldn't move for a minute, I don't know about the dobe."

"Hey, you stole my reason, teme! Who would want to kiss you?" Naruto yelled in response.

And then the two began to bicker like little children. I distinctly heard Naruto say that he had a girlfriend, and wondered who it was. Sasuke said something about the girl he liked not being able to like him back now.

I felt a tad bit let down as I slowly realized that Sasuke and Naruto were not romantically involved, and wondered why. I suppose that I had some kind of inner fan girl that enjoyed seeing gay action.

After around five minutes, Sasuke and Naruto appeared to be done arguing and no longer traumatized.

We held a pretty long conversation with the occasional argument, but apparently the conversation was longer than any of us realized, because Deidara came into the room and said to come downstairs to eat dinner, as it was eight-o-clock.

Naruto bounded down the stairs demanding ramen, and Sasuke strode after him with his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face.

We all walked into the kitchen and I noticed an absence of bodies. All of the strange people were gone and only a few of the Akatsuki were still here. The ones still here were Hidan, Deidara, Itachi (of course, he lived here), Kisame, and Tobi. It seemed as though dinner was something that Tobi had baked, since nobody had bothered to order take-out or make a real dinner.

So, we all partook of surprisingly good cheesecake (or, in Deidara's case, shoveled it in like our lives depended on it), except Naruto made the ramen he had brought along with him, almost as if he had known that this would happen. During this sorry excuse for a proper dinner, I noticed something strange.

I don't know if it was because he got ramen, or because of some other strange and unknown reason, but Hidan and Deidara eyed Naruto strangely, as if he had something that they wanted. I decided that they were jealous of his ramen and went back to eating peacefully. It was after the dinner, however, when things became uneasy.

It was made evident that it was a tradition to play Truth or Dare after the meal at a gathering such as this one, and Itachi made it so that I couldn't refuse and just watch. He knew that he could easily guilt me into it by saying that he'd be insulted if I didn't uphold the tradition. Stupid perceptiveness.

So we all sat down in a circle and put a bottle in the center. I gulped, not wanting the embarrassment that I knew this game warranted.

Being the host of the party, Itachi went first and spun the bottle. It landed on Sasuke.

"Truth or Dare, foolish otouto?" he asked, his sadistic pleasure heavily evident in his voice.

Sasuke sat there, presumably weighing his options, although it could easily be found that he hadn't wanted the bottle to land on him when his brother was on the other end of the game.

Sasuke was sitting there for quite a while thinking about which would be worse coming from his brother, but he should have known right away that a dare would be worse. He seemed to realize this and said, "Truth."

The other men in the room were disappointed that Sasuke had done something as unmanly as picking truth, and went, 'Aww,' even though they were thinking that Sasuke had made a wise decision.

"Hn," Itachi said while he thought of a good question to ask Sasuke, for Sasuke would have to answer truthfully to whatever it was.

"Okay, who in this room would you rather date, not including Sakura?" Itachi finally asked, causing Sasuke to look annoyed at his peculiar and not straight question. But unlike Sasuke, I could tell that Itachi was seeing if he could get Sasuke to say Naruto, so that Sasuke could be further teased about his relationship with Naruto. And to think, Itachi hadn't even found out about what had transpired in Sasuke's room yet.

"I really can't pick Sakura?" Sasuke asked, wrinkling his nose at the thought of all the comments he would get upon answering the question.

"That is correct," Itachi confirmed, causing Sasuke to scowl menacingly. But everyone was waiting, tense with apprehension and anxiety at whom he would pick, in suspense of how they could tease Sasuke, although you could see that Naruto was just hoping that Sasuke wouldn't pick him for his answer.

"I suppose that I would rather date Deidara then, because he looks the most like a girl," was Sasuke's anticlimactic response, disregarding the feelings of poor Deidara, who, from what I'd heard, detested being singled out for his feminine looks.

Deidara was ready to strangle Sasuke for saying that, and everyone else but me was laughing. Deidara got up and walked upstairs, looking upset and saying that he had left something up there when he had gone to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto, and I for dinner, 'un'. So I got up to follow him, sneaking away when the others were caught up in some crazily embarrassing dare that Kisame had to do.

I saw Deidara step into a room I hadn't yet been in and followed him in, recognizing the room as a guest room.

"Deidara, what's wrong?" I asked, concerned for my friend.

Deidara didn't answer me. Instead, I saw a glimmer of tears on his face just before he crushed me in an attention-needing hug. Now I knew that this was about more than what Sasuke said.

**A/N:**** I know that you are all thinking that there isn't much ItaSaku in this chapter, but I'm going to try for some fluff in the next chapter**. **In the meantime, thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that you liked it!**


	14. Rejected

Chapter 1: Just Your Normal Kids

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Fourteenth

Rejected

Deidara just held me for a few minutes before he had collected himself enough to respond. He didn't let go while he answered my question.

"W-Well, it's pretty lame, the reason why I'm crying, un… You see, there was this one girl, and I loved her with all my heart, so I finally mustered up the courage to go ask her to go on a date with me, un. I walked up to her and told her how I felt, and she was silent at first, but when she answered, I wished that I hadn't asked her, un. D-Do you want to know what she said to me, un?"

"Yes," I whispered close to Deidara's ear, not wanting to frighten him with too loud of speech.

"She said, she said… said, 'I would never go out with a creepy girly-looking man like you that wears gloves all of the time and says "un" at the end of every sentence like a deranged psychopath!' And then she just walked away, not caring that she had just smashed my heart to pieces, un. I wish I had known that she was that mean, un, because now whenever someone says that I look girly and too many people laugh, it really hurts me, un."

I patted Deidara on the back to try to help soothe his still-broken heart. With the carefree and silly way that he acts, one wouldn't know that Deidara was hurting inside.

Then Deidara pulled away from me, and you couldn't tell that he had been crying moments before.

"I'm making you miss, the Truth or Dare game, Sakura-chan; we can't have that now can we, un?" And Deidara ran down the stairs back to the game before I could tell him that I hadn't really wanted to play the game, although I was sure that he already knew that anyways.

I discreetly snuck myself back into the game just as Kisame stopped giving a disturbed Itachi a lap dance. I laughed at the look on Itachi's face like everyone around me did. The bottle spun around and landed on, to my horror, me.

I really, really disliked games like this because of all of the embarrassment involved, and playing while being the only girl would only make the situation worse. So I mentally panicked, wondering whether I should choose truth or dare.

"Truth or Dare, Sakura?" Itachi asked me. Let me mention, when Itachi has a happy glint in his eye while playing Truth or Dare, it isn't a good sign, and it most certainly does not help you choose whether to pick truth or dare.

Everyone was staring at me expectantly and waiting for my answer, but they grew impatient. Itachi, however, just sat there indifferently and calmly, looking as if he had all the time that had existed and could exist at his feet. He was also looking at me, but that gleam in his eyes hadn't yet faded, and it was really intimidating me as I weighed through hundreds of outcomes of saying a simple word, none of them being positive. Then, I finally decided on what I would pick, and blurted it out before I could think about it any more and change my mind.

"Dare." I don't know what stupidity reigning in my mind possessed me to pick dare, but whatever it was had pretty good control over my decisions, because it done things like that to me on many occasions.

Itachi formed a smirk on his face, telling me that his dare was not in any way going to be helpfully reassuring; rather, that smirk told me to make for the hills with all of my being if I ever wanted to see my dignity again.

Itachi began to tell me my dare.

"I dare you to prank call Genma-sensei and ask if you can have the key to your apartment back."

If one knew Genma-sensei, they'd know the significance of such a remark. Shiranui Genma was famous for being a womanizer, and such a remark being said to him would imply something other than what was said entirely, so I blushed a bit, but dutifully went to the phone, thankful that my dare had not turned out to be as bad as I thought it would be.

I dialed in the number that Itachi handed to me, and Genma picked up his cell phone.

"Hello?" he asked, sounding as if he had just been interrupted in something.

"Yes, this is Genma, correct? I would like to have your keys to my apartment back as soon as possible," I said, trying to make myself sound irritated. Apparently I was good at doing such.

"Jodi? How did you get my cell phone number?"

Itachi, who was listening in from another phone in the house, snickered.

"One of your students readily gave it to me," I said with more steadiness than I felt, I had just told one of my teachers the first reason that came into my head.

"Which one?"

"I don't know, just drop by my place and give me my keys back, goodbye." And I hung up, blushing. I couldn't believe that one of my teachers would actually keep a girl's apartment keys after they were no longer seeing each other, or that he would have a set of her keys at all. Because that meant that he had gone to Jodi's place more than a few times. I shuddered at the thought of poor Jodi.

But while I was thinking this, I was forced back into the circle by Itachi and we continued to play our game.

I don't think that I could ever think about Genma-sensei again without that incident flashing through my mind. Oh heavens above, take mercy and free me of these horrid thoughts of my teacher's after school activities!

**A/N:**** I hope you all like this chapter, because it took hours to write! Although, it probably would have taken less time if I didn't procrastinate… But that's not the point! Thank you to all of my wonderful and supportive reviewers, I wouldn't update if it weren't for you!**


	15. Game Over

Chapter 1: Just Your Normal Kids

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Fifteenth

Game Over

I spun the bottle that was advertising some type of doughnut on the label, which I found strange (who puts a doughnut advertisement on their bottle of alcohol?), and it circled around to land on Sasuke. _Lovely_, I thought,_ just what exactly am I supposed to ask Sasuke or tell him to do?_ But of course, before I thought about that, Sasuke had a decision of his own to make.

"Truth or dare?" I asked him, without enthusiasm or intimidation. In fact, my tone was rather flat.

As Sasuke sat there thinking, Itachi spoke up.

"This is to be the second-to-last round of this game."

I mentally sighed, for I was happy to be so close to freedom from this game that I was forced into. I could only hope that I wouldn't be forced into another, worse game. Unfortunately, I _would_ have to stay here until around midnight, so there was a high probability of being forced into doing more unsavory things.

Sasuke finally responded and wasn't 'being a chicken' this time.

"Dare," he said with a smug kind of finality, as if his decision was the reason of our existence and we all breathed for him. Or, I could say that he said it arrogantly, but what fun would that be?

"I dare you to…" I trailed off in thought, wondering what fun I could have in making Sasuke do whatever I wanted. And then it hit me like a rusty nail through the foot, except it was a rather sadistic idea, and it didn't hurt to think of it. I got up and strode over to Sasuke, sitting down next to him so that I could tell him his dare without Itachi hearing. I think that Itachi had some concept of what I had in mind, because his eyes narrowed and he gained a calculatingly suspicious look as his whole body seemed to tense. I whispered the dare in Sasuke's ear. "Sasuke, I dare you to go over to Itachi, kiss him on the cheek and give him a huge hug, saying, 'You're the bestest nii-chan in the world!' in an excited voice."

Sasuke looked at me as if I had just casually asked him if he would like to undergo Chinese water torture with me. I shrugged and gave him a meaningful look. And so dearest Sasuke got up and slowly inched his way in Itachi's direction, stopping when he was directly in front of his older brother.

Sasuke quickly pecked his brother on the cheek, and gave him a breath-wrenching hug that squished Itachi's internal organs. Then came the last, pride-obliterating part.

"You're the best… the best nii, nii…" Sasuke attempted, but his pride seemed to not allow the words to escape from his mouth. "The best nii-chan in… in the world," Sasuke finished, releasing Itachi. The room was silent for a minute, and then everyone burst out laughing, I'm sad to say, including myself. Even Sasuke laughed at the twitching of Itachi's facial features. I suppose that my dare that was meant to show the two brothers a true brotherly relationship actually resulted in both Itachi and Sasuke feeling as if the dare was my and Sasuke's payback on him for the task I was forced to perform for him (Not my dare, but the task of calling Sasuke homosexual and such). And now, Itachi seemed to harbor ill intent towards me.

And my luck was turned such that, when the bottle was spun by Sasuke, it landed on Itachi. How was this bad luck? Well, I knew that Sasuke would have his dare or question have something to do with me, so I had to be prepared for retaliation.

"Truth or dare, Itachi?" Sasuke asked with a satisfied smirk. He had obviously wanted to get Itachi, and now there were no rules barring what would happen to his brother, except for what _I_ wouldn't allow, of course.

"Hn. Dare, foolish otouto," Itachi replied, taking Sasuke's silent challenge. It was a good thing that this was the last round, because it would surely be chaos when the two were done.

Sasuke made Itachi walk over to him to tell him the dare, so none of the rest of us heard what it was, although we were all waiting in anticipation.

We saw Itachi start to walk away with a smirk on his face.

"Wait no, I want to give you a different dare!" Sasuke exclaimed, seeming worried about something.

"No, a dare is a dare," said the now-sober Kisame. I had no idea how he could have gotten sober so fast.

Itachi treaded across the carpet and towards me. He took my hand and walked up the spiral staircase with me towards his room. Once in his room, Itachi began to take off his shirt and I looked away.

"Itachi, what exactly was your dare?" I asked, trying my absolute hardest not to think about Itachi slowly slipping his black t-shirt over his head, having already thrown his cloak on the floor.

"Don't worry, it was nothing obscene." As if that would reassure me. Sure, I thought that Itachi's fishnet made his torso look more attractive than that of a model, and yeah, I loved how he looked when his hair was ruffled and he was wearing only his boxers, although he still had his pants on right now. I even thought that his necklace brought out his eyes, even if that doesn't seem possible for someone with eyes of midnight. But it was heavily improper to watch a man take off his shirt when you were only friends. I was still deliberately looking anywhere but at Itachi when Itachi began to walk towards me again.

"Sakura," he breathed right next to my ear, hopefully unaware of the pleasant shivers he sent through my body when he talked like that. "For my dare, I have to kiss you, but I can not do that and we can just say that I did…"

I was sure that I looked really stupid and nervous when he said that, but he couldn't see my face as his mouth was still next to my ear. He kissed my ear gently and I started to shake.

"So Sakura-chan," Itachi began, purposefully trying to get me to snap, "do you want to kiss me?"

I stood there, still shaking, as he pulled me into a calm hug. I stopped shaking and instead enjoyed the position I was in, putting my head against his bare chest. I don't know who I was kidding before, because Itachi's chest was definitely a _lot_ better than Hidan's. I felt his heartbeat next to the ear that he had kissed, and felt his lungs travel up and down, providing his body with oxygen.

"You haven't answered me yet, Sakura-chan," Itachi said. It was completely unfair when he used his voice like that. Itachi made his voice as sweet as liquid chocolate, with words lighter than the chime of a bell. He was pushing me to the edge and he knew it; he didn't want to just kiss me, he wanted me to _beg_ him to kiss me. He really was a sadist, wasn't he? And I held my own against his attempts, I wasn't going to do what he wanted, I didn't even _like_ him like that… did I? No, of course I didn't.

Itachi seemed to get frustrated and impatient, and the next thing I knew, there were a pair of warm, moist lips covering my own. The world around me seemed to stop and my breathing slowed. Uchiha Itachi had stolen my first kiss.

**A/N:**** I'm losing reviewers! :( That makes me really sad! But oh well, I should be thankful for the reviewers that I have. So, thank you all!**


	16. Confuddled

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Sixteenth

Confuddled

**A/N:**** This chapter is again dedicated to SasukeSakuraxXXxItachiSakura, who has slowly become my favorite reviewer (not that I have favorites shifty glance).**

Itachi's lips left mine and I was sure that he saw the subconscious pout that etched itself onto my face when he did so, because he smirked.

"What's wrong, you want me to kiss you?" Itachi asked, but it was a rhetorical question because he let go of me and walked towards the door. He was just about to open it when I gathered the courage to speak up.

"Um, Itachi? Was it part of your dare o come back without your shirt on?"

"Ah, thank you, no, it wasn't. Could you hand me my shirt and cloak?" Itachi requested as if it was the most casual thing in the world to say.

I picked said items up off of the floor and tossed them to Itachi, who caught them with a deft hand and turned around to put them on. I watched his back arch to put on first his fishnet shirt, the one that never failed to made me inwardly drool, and then to put on the loose black t-shirt over that. He slipped his cloak on again, and turned to face me.

"I have a favor to ask you; could you ruffle my hair for me?" Itachi had the nerve to ask.

He had stolen my first kiss, and only taunted me afterwards, and then he put is two shirts back on without even letting me get a last glance at his perfect pectoral muscles, yet he had the nerve to ask me to ruffle his hair for him without ever even telling me what his dare was?! How very rude of him.

"Sure, Itachi, I'd be happy to." I think it was my tone that put Itachi on alert after I said those words. He seemed to be prepared to stop me from slapping him again, but I had no intent to do anything of the sort. Okay, maybe _something_ of the sort.

So I walked over to Itachi and gently slipped his hair out of its elastic holder. Itachi's hair was really silky and smooth; it felt almost as if I was holding the corner of a kimono in my hand. It was sad that I needed to muss up such perfection. But, alas, I did. I tossed his hair around, and twirled it around a few fingers, getting it to look as if he had just done something more intimate with me… Maybe that was what his dare was.

"Itachi, what exactly was your dare?" I asked as I let go of his hair and handed Itachi his elastic, heading towards the stairs.

"I had to go up with you to my room, take my shirt off in front of you, with the door locked, and then come back down with you blushing and my hair messed up. But I had to _make_ you blush." Itachi said, putting his mouth next to my ear to say those last words.

"So you chose kissing me to make me blush?" I asked, hiding my indignation at his actions.

"I figured that it would work, and I was right, wasn't I?" He said, turning his face towards me to smirk. That was his mistake.

I couldn't stop myself. I slapped that smirk right off of his pretty face and didn't regret it.

"_That's_ what you get for playing with my emotions— and stealing my first kiss, you jerk!" I yelled, running down the remaining steps to collide with Sasuke, who had been just about to come up and check on us. He had heard every word that I just said, but luckily for me, no one else had. I was feeling horrible, and was very angry with Itachi for doing this to me. I didn't even know what Itachi had done, all I knew was that my heart ached and it was Itachi's fault.

I nearly knocked Sasuke and myself down, but he caught me and stopped my momentum. He held me against himself, and that's when I realized the tears that were rolling down my face. I couldn't understand all of these muddled-up feeling inside, anger at Itachi for stealing my first kiss, happiness that Sasuke cared enough to help me, something that Itachi had yet to do, love for Itachi, even though he had— wait, did I just think what I thought I just thought? That's certainly not why I was angry at Itachi. It was not because I was disappointed that he didn't really like me and that he had just been playing me like a piano at a wedding. I mean, I had known from the second that he had brought me into his room that everything that happened was a result of whatever Sasuke had dared him to do, and also his ill intent from the dare I had Sasuke do. So it couldn't be that I felt as though he actually liked me in that way.

But then **what** was this feeling that I had for Itachi that made every single emotion stronger when I was around him, or if it had to do with him?

Sasuke's grip on me tightened as I let out a sob, and he gently picked me up to carry me up the stairs, but that only made me sob harder. Sasuke cared enough about me to not to let me embarrass myself in front of the rest of the Akatsuki by crying.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he whispered next to my ear soothingly, "this was my entire fault. I shouldn't have told Itachi to do that dare in the first place."

I tried my best to smile at him through my tears of frustration and confusion.

"It's alright, Sasuke. You tried to stop him, and you didn't _tell_ him to kiss me, or to tease my heart, so I don't blame you, it's his fault."

We made it into Sasuke's room and he sat me down on his bed, sitting next to me in the process.

"So, you have feelings for Itachi. I was hoping that you might like me better, but I can tell that you really like him."

And those few words of Sasuke's forced a revelation through my thick skull. I couldn't even _think_ about denying it now that Sasuke had gone and said it. Within the boundaries of two days, I had fallen for Uchiha Itachi, the brother of my classmate. And boy had I fallen hard.

**A/N:**** I feel like a mangaka saying this, but I was looking at the end of chapter 15, and I was like, 'Wow, did I really write this?' It's kind of weird, because I really liked what I read and I'm usually a heavy self-critic. Thank you to all my reviewers, I got so many reviews last chapter! And I'm sorry for not updating yesterday, I was busy and I needed a break. For the anger and confusion of this chapter, I listened to 'Riot' by Three Days Grace, you should listen to it too!**


	17. Puzzling

"Wait a minuet

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Seventeenth

Puzzling

I looked over to Sasuke, who was looking rather glum. He was watching me with a sad but understanding eye, but quickly composed his features.

"Sasuke, I didn't realize… I'm sorry—" I began, but Sasuke cut me off.

"No, I'm sorry, don't worry about how _I_ feel, focus on yourself! I just have a little crush, but you… You have it bad for Itachi…"

Was that supposed to make me feel better? Because what Itachi did was bad enough, although one little voice in my head was saying that I was blowing this way out of proportion. That little voice defended Itachi, saying that Itachi thought that I wasn't at all interested in anyone that way. I told that little voice some rather inappropriate things about where it could put its theories.

But I stopped telling myself rude things when I saw the flicker of sadness on Sasuke's face. Sure, he had been crying before, but not with _that_ face beneath the tears.

"Sasuke..." I whispered, and wrapped my arms tightly around his middle, holding him close.

Sasuke scowled at me. "If you keep hugging me like this, it will be harder for me to let go of my crush you know."

I protested. "But you need a hug—"

"No 'but's, you don't want me to force myself on you, do you? I'm sure that _I_ wouldn't have much of a problem with that…"

"No, I wouldn't want you to do that… Although I wouldn't believe that you would."

That response of mine caused Sasuke to laugh and got that sad look off of his face, so I stopped hugging him.

Sasuke and I decided to play a game, to get my mind off of unsavory things. We wanted to play a fun game, but all that Sasuke had in his closet was a puzzle and I didn't want to leave the room because of Itachi, so we settled for completing the half-finished puzzle.

After a half an hour, we had completed the puzzle but for one last piece that just wouldn't seem to fit in with the rest.

"Just shove it in!" I exclaimed to the hesitant Sasuke, who didn't want to break his puzzle.

"No, it won't fit!" Sasuke exclaimed back.

"Oh, be a man!"

Sasuke didn't like me saying that, so he tried to fit the puzzle piece in, but to no avail. I laughed quietly at him.

"Well if it's so easy, why don't _you_ try to make it fit?" Sasuke asked, frustrated.

"I will," I responded and took the piece from Sasuke's hand, shoving him out of my way.

"Uhn," Sasuke said, hitting the ground with a loud noise.

And I got the piece to fit perfectly into the puzzle with one try.

"Wh-what!?" Sasuke said, exasperated and definitely jealous. Sasuke was surely about to complete his thought, but I never learned what exactly that thought was, because at that moment, the door opened, whacking my back, and sending me forward on top of Sasuke.

Unfortunately for me, Sasuke's lips unintentionally met mine in a sweet embrace. We quickly sprung apart, and I stood away from Sasuke, not meeting his eyes.

"So you find out that I was just flirting and you go for the next best thing— Sasuke? I thought that you were better than that, Sakura…" said the person who came through the door.

I looked up to see Itachi right in front of me, looking for some reason disappointed.

"No, Itachi, that wasn't what it looked like. Actually, you just hit me with the door when you opened it and Sasuke and I ended up… like that…" I tried to explain.

"Oh really, then what was that I heard before about something of Sasuke's not fitting?" Itachi inquired.

I was confused as to what Itachi meant at first, but then I realized what he was implying and blushed, partly of embarrassment and partly out of anger.

"We were putting together a puzzle! It wasn't like _that_! Do you really think that I would do something like that, Itachi?!" I asked, feeling hurt.

Itachi ran a hand through his wonderfully fluffy and still-perfect hair. I hated how he could look so alluring whilst insulting me. "I don't know _what_ to think anymore," Itachi confessed.

Sasuke stealthily backed out of the room to leave us alone, not wanting to anger his brother with his presence. Sasuke was a smart boy, he knew that I couldn't always be in the Uchiha household to protest him.

I walked silently over to Itachi and out a hand on his face gently, feeling the skin that was every definition of porcelain but breakable tense beneath my hand.

"Itachi…" I began softly. "I don't want to be on bad terms with you, I want to be friends, but I can't be your friend if you don't apologize."

"That's what I came up here to do," Itachi said, but I snickered, in no way believing the lie that just escaped from Itachi's lips.

"I'm serious," Itachi insisted, and I could tell that he wasn't lying. It's too bad that he wasn't lying because it would have been more fun.

Itachi gently took my hand from his face and kissed it. "I really am sorry. I thought that you had feelings for my otouto or something…I didn't think that what I did would matter to you. That was _my_ miscalculation."

"I forgive you," I said smiling. Part of me couldn't believe that I just forgave that "jerk" so quickly, but I knew that I wouldn't have been able to be upset with Itachi for long anyways.

I looked at Itachi, and after a minute, his face began to twitch in a strange way. I was about to ask Itachi if he was alright— if he had forgotten to take his medicine or something, when I realized what that twitch of Itachi's mouth was. Once I knew what Itachi was doing, the air around me seemed to warm, and my heart felt as if it had taken flight in the skies. I had made Itachi smile.

**A/N:**** Ahh, it feels so nice to update again. I had a very busy end to spring break, so I'm sorry for not updating. Thank you to all for reading this and I sincerely hope that you like it! Also thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers— I have been getting so many lovely reviews lately! Okay, I'll shut up now. Thank you once again! **


	18. Morning Invitation

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Eighteenth

Morning Invitation

We had just finished playing a game of poker when Hatake-sensei showed up at the door to take me home with my mother, who was waiting in the car. I waved goodbye to my new friends, and started out the door with Hatake-sensei.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you on my first day, I wasn't serious about that date, despite what the student may tell you. I just like to have fun teasing the new girls," he told me.

"That's alright; I wasn't too disturbed by that. And don't worry, I never told my mother about that," I reassured the man to whom my mother was currently devoted.

"Thank you, I think that we'll get along just fine then, especially since you're exempt from homework because of those unruly Uchiha brothers."

I didn't exactly know what to say to carry the conversation along, but I didn't need to say anything. We had reached Hatake-sensei's car. I didn't know how he could afford such a car on a teacher's salary; my last social studies teacher said that he drove a go-cart with wheels and one of my math teachers compared her car to a mobile sardine tin. Hatake-sensei had some sort of fancy new Hybrid car, this year's model.

I climbed into the back seat, seeing as my mother sat up front with Hatake-sensei. I had to admit that my teacher had good taste in cars, because I felt my muscles relax the instant they came in contact with the almost liquid leather seats. I let the gentle hum of the engine and the quiet speech of the couple in front of me lull me to sleep.

I woke up in the morning to the sound of the phone ringing, which wasn't very pleasant. I checked my clock and saw that it was eleven o'clock in the morning, which meant that my mother was already out with Hatake-sensei. Again. It's not that I wasn't happy for her; I was actually thrilled for her. She needed a new man in her life if she ever wanted to be fully happy again.

I wondered if it was my mother calling, or Hatake-sensei, because I hadn't given anyone my home phone number.

"Hello?" I asked, as if the greeting was a question. I put the cordless receiver up to my ear and crawled reluctantly out of bed.

"Sakura," the voice on the other line said.

"Yes? Who is this?" I wanted to know.

"I apologize, where are my manners? This is Itachi, and my otouto is unfortunately here too. We were wondering if you would consider going somewhere with us today."

I found it to be a bit strange that the two boys wanted me to spend more time with them after spending so much time with them the previous day. Weren't they sick of me yet? But I suppose that they probably wanted me to 'tag along with them,' so to speak, so that they didn't injure each other emotionally, physically, socially, or mentally.

"Where exactly were you planning on going?" I asked curiously. I wasn't sure if I would accompany them yet, considering that they could be going someplace unsavory, like a casino. I knew that Itachi had connections for such places so that Sasuke could play there.

"There's a festival going on near here that Itachi and I have been planning on going to for a while now. But if you wanted to go somewhere else, we could go there too…" I could tell that Sasuke had taken the phone from Itachi and was speaking hurriedly into it. I heard what sounded like Itachi hitting Sasuke, and Itachi's voice came through the other end of the receiver.

"I'm sorry about that, Sakura; Sasuke is excited at the thought of going to a festival with you. He hasn't been to a festival with a girl in eons, so he's anxious to go to all the couple booths and such. For some reason he claims that going to those booths with Naruto just isn't the same." When Itachi said that, I received a lovely mental image of when I walked into Sasuke's room and saw Naruto and Sasuke… in an intimate position. I also noticed that Itachi had begun to talk more than he used to. I wondered if that was a positive or negative improvement.

"So," Itachi began. "How have you been doing today?"

My eyes narrowed. "I was doing just fine until _someone's_ phone call woke me up. But other than waking up, I've been having a lovely day," I replied.

"Well, I would have called later, but it really is unhealthy to sleep in too late, even if you _did_ get home around midnight. You need to go outside, where people can see that lovely pink hair of yours," Itachi said, defending himself.

"Are you insinuating that my hair color is irregular?" I asked. I had become rather protective of what people had to say about my hair over the years, and I didn't want someone that I would have to see every day after school for a while to keep insulting the pigment in my hair.

"Of course not. I wouldn't do that to you, I know how sensitive you must be about such an awkwardly blatant color." I could see the smirk forming on Itachi's face in my head, and I was not pleased. Not only was I unsure if Itachi had been meaning to insult me with his first comment, but he responded to my question with what was surely meant to be an insult, if Itachi's dripping sarcasm was anything to go by.

The door to my room suddenly burst open, causing me to accidentally hang up on Itachi. But that didn't matter, because in the doorway stood Itachi and Sasuke themselves. I gave a little yelp because I was sitting on the floor in my sleep clothes, in full view of Itachi and Sasuke. I was very glad that it had been cool last night, because the coolness was what made me decide to put on flannel night clothes.

"Haven't you heard of knocking?" I exclaimed. "Remember what happened with Itachi? You _definitely_ do not go bursting into a girl's room without knocking after something like that happens to you! How did you even get into my house?"

"Your mother let us in when she left; she's quite the awesome parent, isn't she. We've been downstairs waiting for you o get up since 8:00, but I got impatient, I'm sorry," Sasuke said.

I sighed. What a way to start the day.

**A/N:**** My teachers actually said those things about their cars, so I didn't make those up. They're also always saying things like, "With a teacher's salary? Yeah right." Well, this is another chapter for all of you out there that enjoy this story!**

**Thank you to all of my reviewers! **

**And also thank you to all of the people who put this on alert and/or favourite it. **

**And thank you to those of you who just check up on this story time to time to see if it's updated!**


	19. Festivities

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Nineteenth

Festivities

**A/N:**** This chapter is for SasukeSakuraxXXItachiSakura and madjane, two awesome reviewers!!**

I managed to get Sasuke and Itachi out of my room by telling them that I needed to get dressed and such, as I had just gotten out of bed.

When I came out from the bathroom dressed casually, I noticed Sasuke setting one of my many yukata out on my bed.

Seeing my questioning glance, he said, "The festival is the kind that you wear formal dress to." And that's when I noticed that Sasuke was wearing a blue yukata, and I _did_ remember that Itachi was wearing a red yukata with a dragon on it before. I should have noticed before.

Sasuke walked out of my room leaving me to ponder why I hadn't yelled at him for roaming through my clothing, although I had to admit that the boy had good taste. He had picked out my favorite yukata; it was the same shade of emerald green as my eyes and had a pattern of lime green flowers springing up along it.

So I quickly and effortlessly changed into the yukata and walked downstairs to join Sasuke and Itachi, who started out the door, not thinking of my needs for food when I wake up, which I considerately didn't mention, but not saying anything doesn't keep your stomach from growling. Which of course mine did, thankfully quietly, so that only Sasuke heard it.

"Don't worry," he said in a low voice so that Itachi wouldn't hear. "I'll get you something to eat when we get to the festival, it's not far. Actually, you could probably get something for free with how pretty you look right now," Sasuke continued, smirking.

I deliberately stepped on his sandaled foot while I said, "Thanks," with an extremely fake smile. Sasuke chose to pretend as if I hadn't just stepped on his foot, although his smirk vanished.

We soon got to Itachi's car, although this time, Sasuke made me sit in the back seat next to him. He didn't really give me a choice, but I probably shouldn't have sat next to Sasuke, because he held onto my arm tightly in anticipation of the festival, and he wouldn't let go. The fifteen-minute car ride was fun, especially when Sasuke decided to talk about what he wanted to do, and his grip tightened with each activity that he mentioned.

I'm sure that, with that information, you'll understand why I nearly kissed Itachi when he gently rubbed the red mark off of my arm. Sasuke didn't even realize that he had caused me even the slightest discomfort.

I just shook off the negative emotions that tried to consume me and continued forward with Itachi and Sasuke towards the festival.

Sasuke was true to his word and stopped at the first food stall that we saw to buy me takoyaki, which I gratefully and swiftly ate.

Itachi didn't even notice any of that, so I just followed peacefully along behind him, thinking about how I felt that Itachi looked much better with his cloak on. His yukata did his muscular frame no justice. I guess that I should have been thankful that his yukata looked horrible on hi though, because he was getting many glances from girls anyways. There wasn't a single girl who looked over at Itachi once that didn't stop and look at him again. I was rather jealous, even if Itachi didn't seem to notice their hungry eyes prowling his body as if it were their property.

"Itachi," I exclaimed, getting his attention. "Let's go to that booth there, you said that Sasuke wanted to do those couple-like activities, right?" I said the part about Sasuke quietly so that to those rabid girls it would look like Itachi and I were a happy couple. Alright, I doubted that Itachi would ever look like half of a happy couple, but those random females didn't think that.

And so Itachi, Sasuke, and I walked over to the booth. There was no one behind the counter, so we couldn't play the game together, but we _did_ get to see the Akatsuki leader, Pein-sama, I believe, walking towards us. I heard Itachi mutter a curse, and he quickly but casually put one arm around my waist. I was more than happy to allow Itachi to pretend like we were on a date, but there's no way that Sasuke would go along with it, so we might have a problem.

"Hello, Pein-sama," Itachi greeted his group's leader with a slight bow. I smiled, happy that I had gotten his name right, and greeted him also.

"Hello, Pein-sama, what brings you to this festival?" I asked. I was a bit worried that a direct question would be rude, but Pein-sama was nicer than I expected and didn't think my question rude.

"Ah, I was enjoying the wonders of youth," was his reply. That reply was a little strange-sounding to me, considering that it sounded a lot like something my current physical education instructor might say. Pein-sama must have the same teacher, because he quickly changed his statement.

"Never mind what I just said, it sounded too much like that creep Gai-sensei," Pein-sama said. "I was just here to have fun; I didn't really have a purpose. Your name is Sakura, isn't it? Itachi has told me _much_ about you," he continued. As he spoke, I slowly realized that he had a Hiroshima accent and wondered what part he came from, as I had just moved from a section of Hiroshima.

"That's wonderful," Sasuke said sarcastically, pulling me away from Itachi and Pein-sama. "But we were just going to find a ride to go on. Come along, nii-san," Sasuke said, dragging me in a random direction. I don't think that I've ever heard Sasuke voluntarily refer to his brother as… well, his brother. It was a new experience for me, but perhaps he does that because his brother asked him to do so in front of his leader.

"If you're going to go on a ride, there's a great roller coaster up a little ways," Pein-sama helpfully pointed out. "I could take you to it."

I don't think Sasuke wanted me to do so, but I said, "Yes!" and leapt in excitement. Pein-sama started off in the direction of the ride, and Sasuke followed with Itachi bringing up the rear.

After about a ten minute walk, we were in front of a large roller coaster that went upside-down— my favorite kind. There wasn't much of a wait line either, so Pein-sama and Itachi were conversing quietly and out of earshot about something that sounded like it had to do with grapes.

Sasuke looked at me disdainfully, as if I had done something wrong, and when I asked what was wrong, he didn't respond.

So Sasuke and I stood in silence for the minute before we were allowed on the ride. The rows of the seats were two across, and Sasuke and Pein-sama for some reason didn't want to sit next to Itachi, so they sat together, and Itachi sat next to me.

I don't know why, but for some reason, Itachi's face looked just a _tint_ paler than usual as he sat in the shoddily cushioned seat. We pulled down our individual safety bars, and waited for the ride workers to come check that they were secure. After a minute or so, everyone was in the clear, and the ride started.

We had gotten up to about the middle of the first hill when Itachi wrapped his arms around my waist like his life depended on it. He buried his face in my shoulder as we went down the first hill and up in a loop. After a minute of wondering what exactly Itachi was doing, I realized what was wrong and why Sasuke had looked at me like that while we were in line. Itachi was scared of roller coasters, and not minutely so if his single yell was anything to go by. It seemed strange that he would still go on the ride though.

We neared the final extravagant loop, the grand finale, and Itachi's grip tightened on me tenfold. After ten seconds during which Itachi's fast grip kept me from breathing, I was simply thankful to gulp the still, calm air around me as Itachi slowly released my waist before anyone could see him in such a weak position. Men and their insufferable pride.

Being on the exit side of our row, Itachi got off first, and also very slowly and steadily, as if he were afraid that the ground would sweep him back onto the 'scary' ride. I got off after him and followed him back out of the semi-enclosure to where they sold the pictures that they took of you on the last loop of the ride.

Pein-sama and Sasuke were up ahead, laughing at one of the pictures. I stopped behind them so that I could see the funny picture too and ended up seeing that I was _in_ the funny picture. I had to admit that the way Itachi was helplessly holding on to me was a bit comical, although I didn't really enjoy being laughed at. Sasuke actually bought a copy of the picture of us just to annoy Itachi with, and that's when I noticed that I couldn't see Itachi.

"Sasuke, did you see where—" I began, but I was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. I whirled around to see Itachi, who still looked as if he had seen a ghost. He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a bench that we sat next to each other on, and he ordered me to put my arms around him.

"Excuse me?" I asked, not happy that Itachi thought that he could boss me around.

"You heard me," he said. When he saw the 'uh-uh' look on my face, he continued. "Fine. Would you _please_ hug me?"

I didn't say anything, I just happily put my arms around Itachi just as Pein-sama and Sasuke looked over at us. Itachi put his arms around me too, not that I minded, but I was a little confused when he didn't let go after two whole minutes.

That's when Sasuke came over and told me what Itachi was doing, well, after he stopped laughing, of course.

"Itachi does that every time he goes on a roller coaster with someone, and he won't go alone. And you were wondering why Pein-sama and I wouldn't go on with him."

**A/N:**** Well, that's the end of this chapter. If you're wondering why it's so long, it's partially because it wouldn't have much content otherwise, and partially because I wanted to get over the 20.000 word filter. But mostly because I wanted to get over that filter. (I know, how selfless of me) Well, thank you for reading this and I hope that you enjoyed it!**


	20. A Couple's Game

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Twentieth

A Couple's Game

After five minutes, Itachi was alright enough to stand on his own, all though he seemed a bit reluctant when I told him to let go. I had lost the good mood that the roller coaster had put me in— my good mood was replaced with annoyance at Itachi. Sure, it was a bit cute that he was scared of roller coasters, and it was nice that he had been holding on to me, but a girl could only take so much hugging before it got annoying.

We were walking back towards the main part of the festival now that Itachi had calmed down, and Pein-sama was staying with us, claiming that it would be more enjoyable for all of us. Sasuke looked immensely annoyed, because Pein-sama kept talking only to him, and about Naruto. It was rather strange for me to hear a well-respected man like Pein-sama talk about another man so animatedly. Come to think of it, the Akatsuki members had always looked at Naruto strangely during that abnormal party yesterday, so maybe they wanted Naruto to join their group.

I quickly snapped my thoughts back to paying attention to my surroundings when I was asked a direct question.

"Sakura, would you like to in that booth over there with me? It looks like fun, but only couples can go in," Pein-sama said, thinking that I didn't notice that he was testing me to see if Itachi and were really together. I had to protect Itachi from whatever his leader might do, so I had to decline.

"I'm sorry, Pein-sama, but I shouldn't go in there with someone other than Itachi— he's a very jealous person. I could go in there with Itachi and tell you what it was like if you want," I responded, although my offer of going in that booth with Itachi for Pein-sama was superficial, it was only to be polite. I didn't really want to go in that booth for couples; I didn't even know what it was for so it could be extremely embarrassing.

"Ah yes, that would be wonderful! I always wanted to know what it was like in one of those booths, but Konan-chan refuses to go out in public with me," Pein-sama said to my offer. Why did I have to offer?

I took Itachi's hand and dragged him over to the booth.

"Well at least you have to suffer with me," I whispered to Itachi, who looked repulsed at the idea of going into a couple's booth. Was it really that bad to have to do something like that with me?

We walked through the pink-streamer-filled entrance and into the wooden booth to see an old woman with blue hair.

"Ah, the wonders of young love," she said, gesturing for us to come sit in the two chairs in front of her. "So," she began. "You two would like to find out how compatible you are?"

Itachi and quickly exchanged a surprised look, but nodded. "Then we will begin a series of tests that will show me how good of a couple you really are. I hope you two do well; the last couple in here wasn't compatible at all. They didn't even pay me because they both left full of anger." The old lady stood up and took a piece of cloth from a table in one corner of the ten-meter-by-ten-meter booth.

She walked over to me and blindfolded me with the cloth such that I couldn't even see my nose. I stood up and listened to the instructions of the elderly woman.

"Now, young man, it is your job to get this lovely lady to the opposite side of the room and back without either of you hitting anything, and you can only say two words to direct her."

I wasn't sure if I could make it across the room if I _could_ see, considering how cluttered the path had been when I was looking. I was kind of disappointed because, no matter how well Itachi did, I would probably hurt our score. Wait, why did I care about our score? Sure, I had fallen for Itachi, but I didn't need some stranger to tell what I already knew: Itachi and I weren't at all compatible, he only thought of me as a new friend at most.

But my thoughts were cut off as I felt myself being lifted into the air with Itachi's arms under the middle of my back and my knees.

"Hold on," were his two directional words. And so I wrapped my arms around Itachi's neck as best as I could and held on as he expertly avoided all of the objects obstructing our path. I felt Itachi turn around and begin the journey back toward the woman. He let me down from his arms gently, and I was sure that I had a pout on my face; Itachi hadn't let me stay curled up against his chest _nearly_ as long as I'd wanted to be. The blindfold was untied from behind my head to show me the vibrant smile emanating from the face of the elderly lady.

"Very good," she congratulated. "Now, this is the last test."

_Only two tests? How can you tell if two people are compatible with only two tests?_ I asked myself, but didn't say anything, as that would be extremely rude.

"Young man, stand right here please," the lady said, and Itachi obliged. She put a blindfold over Itachi's eyes this time, and had to stretch her small form to reach where she had to tie the blindfold. "This beautiful young lady that you're lucky to have," the blue-haired woman began, and I blushed, "will give you one of these foods that I just put out, and you have to guess what it is. She cannot tell you what it is and she must give you the food using only her mouth. You have to trust her not to give you any food that you are allergic to or food that you don't like."

My face turned really red. I had to feed Itachi, using my _mouth_ to give him the food? Now _that_ has embarrassing written all over it. But I gulped down my heavy embarrassment, and looked at the first food, a lovely leaf of spinach. I knew that Itachi didn't like spinach, so I left it there and looked at the next food. It was a noodle of ramen. I knew that Itachi liked ramen because of that ramen shop we went to together, so I picked up the noodle and walked two steps to Itachi, bending down to dangle the noodle over Itachi's mouth. He felt the noodle and opened his mouth, taking the noodle with a deft tongue. I felt my face go red as I imagined that tongue doing other things with my own tongue, but dutifully shook such an image out of my head to go retrieve the next food, there was only one left after this one.

I took the piece of chocolate over to Itachi, and wondered how I was supposed to give it to him without our lips touching. There was no rule against our lips touching, but I thought that it would be overly odd to have such an instance occur.

Unfortunately, the part of the chocolate that was inside my mouth was melting, and I was starting to want to eat it, so I had to give it to Itachi fast.

I awkwardly leaned down over Itachi and brought my mouth a centimeter over his, so that he could feel the chocolate. He closed his lips over the chocolate, brushing my lips in the process and sending a wave of warmth through my body. I stepped back somewhat reluctantly to go retrieve the last food, half a strawberry with the leaves cut from the top. The juice was all over my lips as I leaned in the same fashion before to give Itachi the strawberry. His tongue brought the strawberry into his mouth, sadly not making any contact with me.

When Itachi finished chewing the strawberry, the elderly woman removed his blindfold with what I would call a smirk.

"You two are 100 percent compatible!" she exclaimed, grabbing onto her own nose and pulling on, it revealing a familiar face. It was Konan, the only girl currently in the Akatsuki.

Itachi, who had previously been looking as stoic as always, rose from his chair and walked over to Konan with a look of anger on his face.

"What business do you have annoying couples like this?" he demanded.

Konan shook her head, as if she were expecting such a reaction from Itachi.

"Pein put me up to this, and you two fell for it like a bird trying o fly through a glass window," she said.

Itachi grabbed my hand and started to walk out.

"You know," she continued, "I do actually run this booth. That first test was an actual test. Of course, the second one was just for kicks, but hey, you never guessed what the foods were anyways."

Itachi had paused to hear what Konan had to say, but then just continued to drag me out the door. It was a minute before I realized that Itachi wasn't heading back towards where Pein and Sasuke would be waiting, we had taken a small detour towards another bench, although this one was pink.

Itachi pulled me down next to him on the bench, and then leaned forward, meshing his lips with mine. His tongue ran along first my top lip, and then the bottom one, asking for entrance, which I subconsciously granted. His tongue explored my mouth seeming to touch every millimeter of it. Then Itachi pulled back, presumably satisfied.

"W-What was that for?" I asked softly, my lips tingling and my heart about to beat its way to a cardiac arrest.

"You had strawberry juice all over your mouth. Don't worry, I got it," Itachi answered, smirking. I wasn't sure if he was being serious, but I guess he was, because that strawberry that I had to give him left juice all over my lips. I guess I hadn't noticed it there with all of he excitement with Konan being the one who made us do all of that.

"So you like strawberries that much?" I asked, thinking it a bit abnormal that one of the male gender would find strawberries to be that pleasing.

"Of course, strawberries are my favorite food."

I just shook my head, following Itachi as we searched for Pein-sama and Sasuke. But as much as I didn't show it, I liked strawberries almost as much as Itachi did, but whether or not that was because of what Itachi did is for me to know and hopefully for no one else to find out.

**A/N:**** Wow, this chapter's pretty long too. ****I really like strawberries, and it says somewhere that they're Itachi's favorite food, so… yeah. I hope you liked this chapter, and thank you for reading my fan fiction!**


	21. A Party of Seven

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Twenty-first

A Party of Seven

We returned to find Sasuke and Pein-sama, who were both playing some lottery-resembling game. They weren't in a very good mood though, as they had both suffered heavy losses in their wallets, but that was their own punishment for gambling.

Sasuke was mumbling under his breath about 'rigged games' when Pein-sama spoke.

"Well, it's getting late; I need to go home, I'm sure that my mom doesn't want me out too late."

That surprised me. I guess that I'd never really thought that Pein-sama _had_ parents, let alone caring ones, but I guess that most people had parents. I mentally shrugged away the shock and said goodbye to Pein-sama while waving, wondering how he got here if he wasn't heading towards the parking lot. And for some reason, wondering how Pein-sama got to this festival jogged my memory backwards to my mother saying last night that she would staying with Hatake-sensei the next night (tonight) and that she had invited some of my friends to a sleep-over at our house so that I wouldn't get lonely.

This made me ponder first, how my mother knew who my friends were, and second, who my mother had invited. My mother tended to think that I was friends with friends of friends when I really didn't know them all that well, but it made parties more interesting, so who was I to complain? And even though I didn't know everyone all that well, my mother usually created perfect guest lists somehow and always had enough food and such; it was one of the things that I liked best about her.

So while Itachi drove us back to my home, I wondered who my mother had invited, and hoped that she had invited Itachi. He had been acting a little strange at the festival, but who wouldn't after such a strange booth that we went to? I had to admit to myself that what happened with the strawberries was enjoyable on all levels, and that if I had an option, I still would have gone to the booth if just to eat the strawberries again. I was gaining an Itachi complex.

Within a few minutes of what seemed like a talk with myself, we were back at my squat, fake-looking, picture-house. My house resembled one of the glossy cover pages of a new homes magazine, which reminded me of the Uchiha residence. That thought made me feel like my house was uncomfortably small for the two Uchiha, and I became self-conscious of my home.

So when we walked inside, I made sure to seat the two Uchiha brothers in the largest room in the house— the sitting room, which had our television set and a large, comfortable couch— and hurried upstairs to my room to change out of the stiff kimono. I changed into a pair of loose, black pants and a lime green t-shirt that said "Kiss me, I'm foreign" on it. I also quickly brushed through my hair to get out all of the knots that had accumulated in it and shortly after, brushed my teeth (although that made me sad because my mouth was washed of Itachi's essence).

And, being ready for the sleep-over that would take place not to long from that time, I wasn't thinking that Itachi and Sasuke would also be getting ready for said sleep-over, seeing as I wasn't sure that they were going in the first place.

This lack of foresight brought me into an awkward situation. I haven't the slightest idea what it is about me, but I seem to somehow cause myself to be in too many situations in which I am with males who are lacking clothing. Although Itachi was already fully dressed in casual clothing, the same could not be said of Sasuke when I walked into the sitting room.

What could be said of Sasuke was that he looked just as good without a shirt on as his brother did, although he definitely looked strange in his baby blue boxers. But I should be glad that he was even wearing bowers at all, because the situation would have been infinitely more awkward if he wasn't.

"Oops, sorry, I should have known that you were changing, I'll come back in a few minutes," I said.

"No, just stay, this will only take a moment," Sasuke insisted as he hurriedly slipped on his shirt and shorts.

"What was it that you wanted, Sakura?" Itachi asked me, wondering why I had come down here in the first place.

"Oh, I was just coming down here because of the party that my mother organized for tonight. I figured that there would be something I needed to arrange for it, but I can tell that everything is settled now, so I have a question for you; when does the party start?" I asked as the doorbell rang.

"Now," Sasuke added in helpfully.

The three of us walked over to the front door of the house, pausing as I unlatched the door and then pulled it open to see a spiky-haired blond (who I remembered was Naruto), Neji, Tenten, and Hinata, all of whom carried with them a sleeping bag, a pillow, and a backpack full of what I presumed were their overnight supplies.

"The party starts now that I'm here, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, attacking me with a hold that I would guess he would call a hug.

"Wh-where should we put our things?" Hinata asked, and I led her along with the others towards a designated spot on the floor for their things.

"A-and Sakura-san, I… I have a present for you to thank you for inviting me to this party," Hinata said quietly and kindly, holding out a brightly wrapped package with a silver bow on it. She smiled as I carefully slid open the wrapping paper, and my grin soon matched hers. Hinata was certainly the best.

**A/N:**** I know that it has been forever (**_**again**_**), and for that, I apologize. I have no excuse but to say that I am not sure that I can continue this story much longer because 1. I honestly forgot about it for a while, and 2. I don't have many more ideas for it or much time at the moment. So, the ending of this strange tale may come crashing down hurriedly soon, just to warn you all, but I thank you for your devoted support and apologize earnestly for not updating in such a long time.**


	22. Coffee Candy

The New Definition of Me

The New Definition of Me

Chapter the Twenty-second

Coffee Candy

I always knew Hinata was the type of friend you wanted to keep around. She's such a sweet, kind girl, and while that makes it strange for her to like brash Naruto, it makes her a wonderful friend for the rest of us. She remembered, although I only mentioned it once, very briefly, that I loved coffee candy. That's what I opened from within the package.

"Hinata, you definitely know how I like to liven up my parties," I said, carefully unwrapping a piece of the candy and popping it into my mouth.

Addressing everyone else, I demanded, "You all have to try a piece if you want to stay."

They were hesitant at first, but they realized that I was serious and all stuck their hands into the candy bag, taking a piece of the magnificent candy for themselves.

Now the party could get started. I showed them all the way to the main room where there was a clear floor space, perfect for games of Twister. Taking out said game, I heard a yell from Tenten that she wanted to spin the selecting board. Twister is a game involving putting certain limbs on certain spots on a mat. Tenten was surprisingly not good at such games, so I would guess that she volunteered so as to not embarrass herself in front of Neji. Deny it she might, but I knew she had feelings for that boy.

Since we happened to have a very large mat, it fit all six of the rest of us easily, and thus the game began.

"Right hand red," was Tenten's first command.

After ten minutes of easy positions involving no more than 3 limbs at a time, the difficulty increased and Neji and Sasuke, competing as they tended to when around each other, fell on each other and were eliminated. Hinata got stuck in a rather interesting position with Naruto; he was practically lying down on her. With the next command, Naruto slipped and fell, taking poor Hinata down with him. They both blushed profusely as they stood up and left the mat to Itachi and me, who were on separate ends.

I was only aware of Tenten calling out five new positions for our hands and feet, but somehow, these five positions brought my face right in front of Itachi's, so close that I could smell the wintermint gum in his mouth.

"I think I'm going to win this game," I said, just to annoy him because he'd had an overly smug look on his face.

"And I think not," he replied, the mint of his breath stinging my nose.

I was about to reply, but then Tenten called out a new color for our left hand and I fell silent, trying to figure out how I could move my hand without slipping in my socks and losing to Itachi.

I slowly stretched my arm towards the closest blue dot without wobbling at all, but then that blue dot suddenly had a hand covering it.

"Oh, sorry, was that the dot you wanted to use? My bad."

I glared at Itachi who knew I would never be able to reach the other dot. But still, I tried reaching it at touched the very edge of it. I was about to fall over, but Tenten noticed and said the next color for our left foot fast. This time I was ready for Itachi's tricks and made sure to move my foot fast so that he couldn't take my dot again. My foot got there a split second before Itachi could take the spot.

Unfortunately, I hadn't thought that such a fast movement on my part would cause me to lose my balance. Down I went, causing Itachi to win the game.

He smirked and pulled me aside as he got up. "Did you really think you could beat me?"

I was about to hit him and/or retort venomously, but then Itachi had to go and do what he does best. His lips caught mine in a fiery kiss, and when we broke apart, I found that I could deal with losing if a kiss like that was my consolation prize.

**A/N:**** Alright, that may have been my worst chapter yet, but I had to put up a new chapter, I feel so guilty for not having put one up in so long! School is brutal and I was on vacation most of the summer, so I'm sorry. **

**But what I'm most sorry about is that I won't be able to continue this fic. I'm putting it up for adoption if anyone wants to continue it.**

**I really am sorry. ******** I hope you'll forgive me!**


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